Deputy Tim O’Boyle
A St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office Deputy, honored in 2009 as the Police Officers Association of Michigan Officer of the year, has retired. Deputy Tim O’Boyle began his career in August of 1981 and was promoted to Road Patrol Deputy in 1985. Besides his road patrol duties, O’Boyle also served two stints with the St. Clair County Drug Task Force, totaling 8 years. On April 16th, 2008, O’Boyle was requested to back up then Capac Police Chief Ray Hawks on a reckless driving incident. Hawks had followed the driver of the vehicle home and was going to tow the vehicle. The tow truck and O’Boyle arrived on location to see the suspect fired a rifle, striking the Chief in the right arm and chest. He fired again, this time striking O’Boyle in the head. The gunman then disappeared. Even though he was bleeding from a head wound, O’Boyle was able to give a description of the suspect and advise other patrol cars the best way to respond in. Besides the POAM Officer of the year award, O’Boyle was presented with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office Heart Award, given to a Deputy seriously injured in the line of duty. “Tim has had an outstanding career at the Sheriff’s Office,” said Sheriff Tim Donnellon. “Day in and day out, he worked hard to serve the citizens of St. Clair County. Tim is a second generation cop (his father Tim was Chief of Police in Marysville) and he took great pride in wearing the Sheriff’s star.”
