You’ve heard the story by now – a White County father turned his grief into action on Sunday only to wind up in jail…
Shannon Hamilton got arrested while building safety barriers on the Gene Nix Road Bridge where his daughter died. “This (arrest) was 100% preventable because I pleaded with the White County Road Department.” he told me by phone this morning. “I understand that proper guarding has to be engineered but in the interim, every day that goes by, you’re risking another life to be lost at that bridge. I was ignored.” Hamilton says the department should at least erect temporary concrete barriers as an interim measure.
16-year-old Cecily Hamilton and 18-year-old Taylor Swing died on March 16 when their car ran off Gene Nix Road and into Town Creek. There is a narrow gap between the bridge and a tree. Their vehicle flew through that gap landing upside down in the water below.
White County Commissioners last month said they would construct guardrails at the bridge but, so far, that hasn’t happened. “Nothing, not one thing was done, so I had to do what a daddy had to do to be able to sleep better at night,” says Hamilton. “If I could just get the berms put in place there won’t be another grieving parent to have to walk across that bridge to identify their daughter like I had to do.”
White County Manager Michael Melton says they are working with an engineering firm to design and install safety features at the bridge, “They’re going to have some information to us this week and hopefully by next week we can start with installing those guardrails along that bridge.” Melton says the engineer recommended not doing temporary barricades at the site and instead move ahead with a permanent solution.
White County Sheriff Neal Walden says the incident began Sunday afternoon when an officer on patrol witnessed Hamilton with equipment at the bridge and informed him that he could not perform work on the road. The officer then called a supervisor who also informed Hamilton that he could not erect any kind of barrier on county property. “He (Hamilton) was just very adamant that he was going to do that,” Sheriff Walden says, “so he proceeded to start and they asked him to shut the machine down and arrested him since he was not going to comply.”
In the 24 hours since his arrest, Shannon Hamilton’s story has gone “viral.” Now Habersham’s facebook link to his story reached more than 400,000 people while the video of his arrest racked up more than a million views. All this attention means news outlets all over the state and country are reporting about his arrest and looking for answers from White County officials.
Hamilton says he welcomes the extra attention on his family’s cause, “I think it is amazing that the community is coming together and seeing what the goal was here and what needs to happen.” Unfortunately, as often happens in the glare of the national media spotlight, Hamilton says many of those reading and sharing the story are missing some key points. “I do want everybody to know,” he says, “The arresting officers did not want to do that. They were given orders that if I showed up not to allow me to do it and, if I did it anyway, to arrest me. They had to do their job but they were very respectful.”
Officers were also very helpful. Hamilton is charged with interference with government property which could have seen him spend the night in jail. He says rather than keep him locked up awaiting a hearing, the arresting officer drove to a judge’s home to get the paperwork signed to allow him to bond out Sunday afternoon.
“There’s no hard feelings here at the Sheriff’s office,” Sheriff Walden explains. “We understand his frustration but this was a violation of the law and they had to effect the arrest.”
There are several steps in the legal system ahead for Hamilton, a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to proceed, a possible grand jury session to determine if charges should go forward and possibly a trial. Hamilton says his trip to jail and the charges that remain against him are the least of his concerns right now. “My concern is, as of right now that bridge is still not barricaded and every minute a car goes by, that risk is still there.”
Sheriff asks DA not to pursue charges against father of dead teen
Family and friends of Cecily Hamilton have begun #bringit4cec to establish the Cecily Mcree Hamilton Memorial Scholarship Fund. The funds will go to high achieving students in the White County High School Cheerleading program beginning with the graduating class of 2017. Bring It, Inc. has applied for charitable status, their 501(c)(3) status is pending so future donations will be tax-deductible.
