Deputy Terry L. Harper is a 28-year veteran of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office/ Jail
Services Section and is assigned to 151 shift/ Intake, where he operates within the Court Holding
section, M-F, from 0700-1500. On Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Deputy Harper started the day
like every other day .. ... stopping for coffee, for he and co-workers, at a United Dairy Farmers, on
the way to work. After bringing two cups of coffee to the counter, Deputy Harper left to
retrieve the third but on the way back, saw a man lying on the floor. Believing this to be a
medical emergency, Deputy Harper approached the man but when he came around the A TM
machine, he saw (who was later identified as) Simeon Thomas (MB/21) pointing a handgun at the
store's clerk while screaming for him to give him "all the money". Instinctively, Deputy Harper
broke cover, drew his weapon, and clearly yelled for Thomas to drop his weapon and get on the
floor. When Thomas turned toward Deputy Harper, the handgun turned also. Fearing Thomas
would fire at him, Deputy Harper fired first, missing Thomas but scaring him sufficiently that
Thomas fled deeper into the store, to a dining room area. Deciding not to chase Thomas,
further, into the store, Deputy Harper gave Thomas instruction to come back out, drop the gun
and 'get on the ground' . Several tension-filled seconds had passed before Thomas yelled that he
was coming out, placed the handgun on the counter and laid, face-down, on the floor. Deputy
Harper directed the store clerk to call 911, approached Thomas and cuffed him. Simultaneously, a Cheviot Police Officer ran into the store. In the very short span, of mere seconds, Deputy
Terry Harper saved 4 lives. He is a hero. Thomas was charged with 2 counts of Robbery,
convicted and sent to prison for 6 years. As an aside, Detectives from our Patrol Division have
said that Deputy Harper handled this situation "absolutely perfectly" and that they intend to use
this situation in future training scenarios to demonstrate how an Officer should react because
Deputy Harper "did everything right". This incident received extensive media attention and
reflected the Hamilton County Sheriffs Office in an extremely positive light.
Nominated by:
Sheriff Jim Neil, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office
Chief Deputy Mark A. Schoonover
Major Chris M. Ketteman
Operations Commander David A. Turner
Captain Scott A. Kerr
Lieutenant Jerome L. Richmond
Read complete nomination: https://www.sheriffs.org/Harper_Valor
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