A native of West Virginia, 28-year-old W.B. Secrist was voted Manning Police Officer of the Year this week by his peers at the department.
It was not his only distinction from the department or City of Manning in 2015. He received the Medal of Valor in April 2015 after a car chase a month earlier led to injury and a hospital visit.
Secrist and two other officers - one a deputy from the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office - responded to a call outside Lamar's Country Corner, and four suspects took off in a vehicle.
A three-car wreck resulted from the chase, which reached speeds in excess of 100 mph on Kingstree Highway in Manning. Secrist suffered internal injuries and a concussion, but continued to chase suspects on foot. He spent three days in Clarendon Memorial Hospital and was cleared for work later the next week.
He was promoted in September 2014 from patrolman first class to corporal at the Manning Police Department.
A native of Fayette, W.Va., Secrist came to Manning in 2009 after serving as a police officer in his native state for two years. He joined law enforcement when he was just 19.
“I am the first one in my family in law enforcement,” he said. “It’s always been something I wanted to do. The opportunity came up when I was in college. My best friend got hired, and there was another opening. I did a ride-along and that was that.”
Secrist left the Manning Police Department in 2012 to try his hand at a private-sector job.
“But I came right back, because I missed it so much,” he said. “I had to get back in it.”
