Obituaries: Lawrencevile: Jerry Griswell, sheriff's deputy, police ...

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OBITUARIES: LAWRENCEVILLE: Jerry Griswell, sheriff's deputy, policechief of three metro cities

By Kay Powell
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/21/08
Jerry Griswell committed to a life in law enforcement and becamewitness to a heinous Gwinnett County crime, a crime that never lefthis mind for 44 years.
It was April 17, 1964. Three county police officers —- JerryR. Everett, Ralph K. Davis and Marvin Jesse Gravitt —-surprised their assailants who were changing tags on a stolen car.
The criminals got the jump on the officers, handcuffed themtogether, marched them into the woods, ordered them to get on theirknees, then shot each lawman in the head, firing a total of 16 or17 shots.
A Gwinnett deputy sheriff at the time, Mr. Griswell was the firstat the scene on Arc Way near Lilburn. He never forgot the sight ofhis three fellow police officers, handcuffed together and shot incold blood.
"A waste of three fine men," Mr. Griswell said in a 1989 AtlantaJournal-Constitution article. He worked the case round the clock.
"For three days, he didn't hardly come home," said his wife, DotGriswell of Lawrenceville. "He never completely got over it."
The funeral for Mr. Griswell, 77, of Lawrenceville is 1 p.m. todayat Bill Head Funeral Home, Lilburn/Tucker Chapel. He died of abrain tumor Friday at Embracing Hospice.
The slayings made national headlines and prompted Gwinnett Countyto strengthen its law enforcement, according to the AJC article.
Mr. Griswell, trained as a policeman by the U.S. Air Force and theFBI, benefitted from the county's emphasis on more and stronger lawenforcement. Until then, he said, "There really weren't anyqualifications to be a sheriff. They gave you a gun and a badge andthat was it."
As for the police officers' killers, one was paroled, one died in1983 and one is still in prison.
The rest of Mr. Griswell's law enforcement career with theSheriff's Department and as a police chief was less traumatic, saidhis daughter, Denise Hughes of Suwanee. His children would monitorhis work on a police radio at home.
"There was a robbery at Tucker Federal Savings and Loan that was abig ordeal," Mrs. Hughes said. "We listened on the police radiodown in the den and could hear him running and talking on the radioand shots being fired, until Mama made us turn it off."
With a more flexible schedule as a chief, Mr. Griswell lovinglykept tabs on his only daughter. "He used to come home and check upon me all the time, but he would do it in a very nonchalant way,"she said.
His respite from work was camping. The family cook at home, herelished turning out three meals a day on their two-week campingtrips on Lake Allatoona, his daughter said.
Mr. Griswell retired from the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Departmentin 1990. During his 32-year career, he had been police chief ofClarkston, Lilburn and Norcross, too.
One act, while he was Norcross police chief in the 1970s, summed uphis commitment to law and order for his secretary and dispatcher,Kari Manning of Lawrenceville.
"There had been a homicide which never, ever occurred in Norcross.It was between two feuding families," Mrs. Manning said.
A suspect was arrested and had to be transported from the Norcrossjail to the Gwinnett County Jail. Mr. Griswell feared retaliationfrom the victim's family.
"He and his officers surrounded the suspect and escorted him in ahuddle out to the patrol car," she said. "It was a remarkablesight. No matter how much the person was suspected of murder, hewanted to make sure he was safe."
Survivors other than his wife and daughter include a son, MikeGriswell of Conyers; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.