Sheriff Scott: ‘Black lives matter, blue lives matter, all life matters’

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott is not one to shy away from sharing his personal opinion on Facebook, doing so on Wednesday in response to an attack on one of his deputies.

“I was at the hospital when the ambulance arrived, the rear doors opened, and my Deputy Dean Bardes was unloaded on a stretcher,” Scott wrote in a post on the department’s Facebook page. “Bloody from a vicious attack by a driver Bardes had stopped for endangering the lives of other innocent citizens in our community, the Medics wheeled him into a treatment room. Joined by others from our tea…m, I was there when his wife and family arrived with fear and concern for their loved one as the E.R. team worked on him.”

Bardes, a 12-year-veteran, was working a crash on Interstate 75 when Edward Strother drove past him, nearly running him over, the sheriff’s office said. Bardes gave chase in his marked cruiser, following Strother to the Corkscrew Road exit.

“Ironically, this was the first day in a while that Deputy Bardes was alone on patrol because as a Field Training Officer, he typically has a recruit riding with him to learn the business,” Scott wrote. “A business that has seen an increasingly alarming rise in attacks and killings perpetrated on cops. A business that has fallen victim to false narratives like Ferguson where the good guys have been painted as the bad guys by a vocal minority that refuses to allow facts and evidence to get in their way. A business that is the last line of defense between good and evil.”

Strother rushed Bardes and slammed him to the ground after both men exited their vehicles, the sheriff’s office said. As they grappled, Bardes struggled to keep his weapon away from Strother. It was not immediately clear whether Strother was able to grab Bardes’ weapon.

A passerby who is also a Concealed Weapons Permit holder commanded Strother to stop the attack, the sheriff’s office said. The passerby threatened to shoot Strother if he didn’t leave Bardes alone, a source said. When Strother didn’t heed the warning, the passerby opened fire.

The sheriff’s office declined to name the passerby, stating he did not want to be identified.

“I thank the hero that recognized the imminent threat, rushed to Deputy Bardes’ aid, and ultimately stopped that threat,” Scott wrote. “In a day and age where race is a near instant focus for media and other pundits in police incidents, the fact is that this hero happens to be a man of color who stopped another man of color from further harming or killing a white cop; thereby reminding us that black lives matter, blue lives matter, and indeed all life matters. We at your Sheriff’s Office remain proud to serve and focused on the mission.”

Previous posts

Wednesday’s post was not the first time Scott used race to make a point.

Scott criticized the Black Lives Matter movement and the Lee County NAACP in a Sept. 30, 2015 op-ed in The News-Press about violence in Fort Myers. The piece followed a night when seven people were shot in four separate instances.

“While the events of Ferguson, Missouri, revealed that facts don’t matter but black lives do, it appears those lives matter far more if by chance a white law enforcement officer is involved,” Scott wrote. “No cop wants to be the next Darren Wilson and blaming law enforcement only serves to diminish the blanket of security these brave men and women provide.”

Scott referred to protests against police brutality as a “rush to judgement” in a July 11 post:

Scott’s posts have garnered thousands of Facebook reactions and shares as well as hundreds of comments, mostly consisting of praise.

Scott was recently re-elected to his fourth term with 75 percent of the vote.

Below is Scott’s post on Wednesday: