A state law enforcement group will recognize Lawrence County Sheriff Roy Smith this month for his conduct during a March chase that ended in a West Virginia murder suspect’s apparent suicide in Burlington.

Friday, November 03, 2000

A state law enforcement group will recognize Lawrence County Sheriff Roy Smith this month for his conduct during a March chase that ended in a West Virginia murder suspect’s apparent suicide in Burlington.

Smith will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association Nov. 15 for showing "extraordinary conduct," BSSA executive director Bob Cornwell said.

"This award is our second highest attainable award," Cornwell said.

Smith said the award comes as a surprise.

"It’s an honor to receive this from your peers," he said. "This incident happened back in March and I didn’t even think twice about it. But apparently, several deputies thought I was deserving of the award for what happened that day."

As he recalled the day, he said Alex Blankenship was a suspect for the murder of his aunt, which occurred earlier in the day in Wayne County, W.Va.

Authorities believed he was near an oil and lube shop on Wal-Mart Way in Burlington and advised the sheriff’s department Blankenship was "armed and dangerous," he said.

"Sgt. Dan Franks and myself responded to the call," Smith said. "At some point, as we were arriving on the scene, Blankenship spotted a deputy car and fled. We ended up in a fast and furious chase."

Blankenship drove to a car wash behind Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart when the pursuit ended, he added.

"When I pulled in at the car wash, he was making a quick U-turn and pointing a gun out of the window right at me," he said. "He was shouting something at me, but I couldn’t make out what he said because my window was rolled most of the way up and the sirens were still screaming in my ears."

The sheriff said he slowly backed up as he began rolling down his window to talk to Blankenship.

"I was about 40 feet away from him when he pointed the gun at me," Smith said. "As I was getting my gun out of the holster, he ended up using his gun on himself.

"I’m honored to be receiving this award because this is a very prestigious award that’s not given out to very many people."

"Most of the time, deputies are the most likely candidates for this award," Cornwell said. "While only a few actually receive this award each year, it is typical of the law enforcement community to lay down their life to preserve peace for their constituents. We always receive bad publicity on the bad things we do, but this very incident is the sort of thing we encounter every day."