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BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

The body of Scott McCormick of Altha has been recovered from Ocheesee Pond in the Shady Grove Community.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office confirms a body surfaced late Monday near where McCormick's boat was found. An autopsy was performed Tuesday, but results have not yet been announced. However, it has been confirmed to be McCormick. His obituary states that he died as a result of a boating accident.

As previously reported, a concerned friend of McCormick, 59, contacted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Jan. 11 when he failed to return from a duck hunting trip. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with assistance from the JCSO, launched boats and began a search, soon finding McCormick's boat and gear on the pond. His truck was located at a public boat landing.

A memorial service is planned Feb. 13 in Live Oak, his hometown.

More details in next week's print edition.

BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

A Blountstown man is behind bars accused of shooting another man at a home south of Altha Sunday night.
Mathew Hunter Tolley, 21, has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
According to Lt. John W. Scheetz of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, investigators responded to a residence on State Road 71 North just before 8 p.m. Russell Allen Peterson, 44, was found inside the entrance to the home bleeding from an apparent gunshot wound to his lower abdomen and upper left thigh area. Peterson was taken by ambulance to a regional hospital where he remained at press time undergoing treatment for his injuries. They are not believed to be life threatening.
Witnesses at the scene gave conflicting statements. Tolley refused to give a statement without an attorney present.
The incident remains under investigation. More details as they become available.

BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

One Liberty County woman was killed, while a child and another local woman were seriously injured, in a two-vehicle crash in Bristol Thursday afternoon.
Shereen E. Shuler, 38, of Bristol, was taken to Calhoun-Liberty Hospital where she passed away. Her 18-month old son and only passenger, was airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
The driver of the other vehicle, Barbara A. Traylor, 63, of Bristol, was also transported to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the accident occurred at 5 p.m. Traylor was behind the wheel of a 2015 Toyota Rav4, traveling west on SR 20. At the same time, Shuler was driving a 2001 Ford Escort, headed east on SR 20. As both cars approached Hoecake Road, Traylor initiated a left turn and drove into the path of Shuler’s oncoming car, resulting in a head-on collision.
Trooper M.P. Kauffman and Cpl. R.B. Highsmith are investigating.
More details in next week’s print edition.

BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

A search is underway for an Altha man who disappeared while duck hunting on Ocheesee Pond in Jackson County.
A concerned friend of Scott McCormick, 59, contacted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Monday night.
“We were called to do a welfare check on him Monday night,” Jackson County Chief Deputy Donnie Branch tells The County Record. “One of our units found his truck.”
McCormick’s vehicle was at a public boat ramp on Arkansas Road in the Shady Grove community.
“A friend of his knew he had gone hunting and had not seen him,” says Branch. “They knew he was coming here to hunt. We launched two boats that night - an FWC boat and one of ours.”
Searchers soon found McCormick’s boat. “There were life preserver cushions in the boat, but we don’t know what he had on,” Branch remarks.
Jackson County Sheriff Lou Roberts says, “The boat was swamped. There was water inside the boat and we had to bail it to get it to go. It wasn’t sunk, but it wasn’t operational.”
Sheriff Roberts says the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office helicopter was brought in Tuesday afternoon to fly over the area since his pilots were away at training.
It is unclear exactly how long McCormick had been hunting. “We’ve heard he told some people he was going Sunday and then some people who understood he was going Monday morning, but he hadn’t returned Monday night,” Branch reports.
Sheriff Roberts notes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) is the lead agency in the case and his department is assisting.
“No foul play is suspected at this point,” says Branch. “I think it’s just going to be a boating accident.”
Branch adds, “We’re still looking. We’ve got some cadaver dogs coming in to help us search. We still have divers here. We’re going to look today and hope and pray we find him.”

Scott Daniels was apprehended last night at 11:38 pm at a home off Wrennie Moody Road. Hats off to all those who worked to peacefully end this situation. Watch for all the details in this week's print edition.

Authorities are searching for a Calhoun County man who fled after the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office attempted to take him into custody for threatening a public official. According to a CCSO spokesperson, the fugitive is Scott Anthony Daniels, 46. They have not released the name of the public official Daniels allegedly threatened. Investigators are currently searching a five-mile radius in the Ocheesee community from Hwy. 69 to Jody Fields Road and the crossroads area at Hwys. 69, 286 and 274. Three images of Daniels are shown here. If you spot Daniels, please contact the CCSO at 674-5049. Residents in the Ocheesee area are urged to keep their doors locked. More details as they become available.

BY KELLI PEACOCK DUNN
News Editor

The Parks and Crump law firm in Tallahassee hosted a press conference earlier today to release the police officer’s dash cam video from the morning Barbara Dawson died.

As previously reported, Dawson, 57, refused to leave Calhoun Liberty Hospital the morning of Dec. 21 after she was treated for abdominal pains and released. She insisted she still didn’t feel well and needed further treatment. When she allegedly became unruly, the Blountstown Police Department was called by hospital officials to have her removed. Dawson was arrested, then collapsed next to Ofc. John Tadlock’s patrol car, and was later readmitted to the hospital where she died. The Medical Examiner ruled her death was due to a blood clot.

The dash cam video is actually mostly audio since Dawson never entered the patrol car. Ofc. Tadlock’s voice recorder attached to his uniform captured everything that was said inside and outside the hospital. Officials at the hospital report cameras were not working due to their server being down since late November.

“You hear her when the officer arrives in her room in a panic...she begs, ‘I can’t breathe, please don’t do this...’ You hear them insisting she is going to jail,” Attorney Daryl Parks told reporters this morning. “You also hear hospital personnel repeating to her, ‘There’s nothing wrong with you.’”

Parks added that, after being removed from the facility and collapsing, “For at least 20 minutes, she is there beside the car without any help.”

Attorneys for the Dawson family alleged that even after the doctor came out to the parking lot, assessed her and decided to readmit her, no one seemed in a big rush to get her inside.

“We have almost 30 minutes that elapsed when she didn’t have any real care,” said Parks.
Parks said Ofc. Tadlock is heard on the recording admitting to his captain that he thought Dawson was just being non-compliant. “That assumption cost Barbara Dawson her life.”

“How many times does a person have to say, ‘I’m real sick, I can’t breathe,’ or a family member observing say, ‘She’s still hurting, something is wrong here.’ We think what they did was put criminality over health care,” said Attorney and State Representative Darryl Rouson. He went on to say, “They thought the way to deal with her was taking her to jail as opposed to getting her the adequate and the sufficient medical attention she needed. This case is about getting Barbara Dawson justice.”

Blountstown Police Chief Mark Mallory released the following statement this afternoon:
"Contrary to what has been suggested by legal counsel for Ms. Dawson’s family, in Florida, law enforcement officers are “first responders”. It is important to recognize that law enforcement officers are not trained medical professionals. Generally, as a first responder, a law enforcement officer is trained in CPR. CPR would not be utilized on a person that is breathing and that has a heartbeat, as was the case with Ms. Dawson on December 21, 2015.

"In the event of a perceived medical emergency, it is a law enforcement officer’s duty and responsibility to request the assistance of trained medical professionals. It is also a law enforcement officer’s responsibility to rely on the medical training and expertise of medical professionals once the officer seeks medical evaluation and/or intervention. In Ms. Dawson’s case, the responding officer acted appropriately, by requesting immediate assistance from medical professionals.

"As clearly depicted in the audio recording of the events as they transpired on December 21, 2015, the officer sought medical attention for Ms. Dawson within less than one minute of her collapse. The medical professionals that responded to Ms. Dawson in the Calhoun-Liberty Hospital parking lot included the following: registered nurses, a paramedic, and a doctor. Upon the arrival of the various medical professionals, the officer deferred to the professional training and expertise of the summoned medical professionals to evaluate and assess Ms. Dawson’s need for medical intervention.

"Although the officer may have suspected that Ms. Dawson was intentionally noncompliant, he nonetheless fully executed his duty and responsibility, requesting that medical professionals continue to verify Ms. Dawson’s health status, even after the medical professionals initially assessed and evaluated Ms. Dawson following her collapse. Any action by the law enforcement officer usurping and/or interfering with the medical professionals’ expertise, knowledge and advice, either upon Ms. Dawson’s discharge from Calhoun-Liberty Hospital (after approximately eight (8) hours of evaluation and treatment by medical professionals) or subsequently in the Calhoun-Liberty Hospital parking lot following her collapse, would have been reckless. Any suggestion otherwise by the lawyers involved in this matter is misleading and illogical.

"Regardless, Ms. Dawson’s passing is a loss felt by our community, and our thoughts and prayers remain with her family and friends during this time."

The dash cam video can be seen in it’s entirety at Tallahassee.com