New Brockton fallen police chief to be honored in ceremonies Friday

By Carole Brand

Published: May 11, 2008

Daisy Wambles, 85, remembers when her father was shot in the line of duty in 1956. New Brockton Police Chief Alex Hurst was downtown when he spotted a vehicle running a redlight. At the time, a service station was located across the street with witnesses observing the details of the shooting.

Reports at the time stated that Hurst stopped a vehicle driven by Joe Frazier. Witnesses recall a struggle between the two men when Frazier managed to grab Hurst’s gun and a shot rang out, striking Hurst in the head. Wambles said her father didn’t die immediately, but lived “bedridden and couldn’t feed himself for almost a year. I was grown at the time and with five children, but we moved next door to daddy’s house to help.”

Hurst died nearly one year following the injuries he had received from the gun shot. Frazier was sentenced to life in prison where he died in the 1980s.

“Daddy lacked five days living a year,” Wambles said. “He was shot in April 1956 and he lived until April 1957. He was in bad shape the whole time.”

Wambles said without the help of neighbors and church members, the family couldn’t have made it.

“Daddy was a member of the First Baptist Church in New Brockton and some of the members would come and sit with him. I remember Albert and Ruby Ramsey and Oscar Ward and his wife would come. The whole community helped us with him.”

In looking back, Wambles recalled her father was “a hard-working man and he was kind, but firm. Before he was police chief, he drove big trucks that hauled cotton and he was a night watchman at a cotton gin. I remember that after our mother died, he’d take us at night with him to the cotton gin. He had five children, but there are only three of us surviving now,” she said.

Wambles, of the Bellwood community, Betty Lou Stevenson of Savannah, Ga., and Lila White of Elba, all plan to attend a ceremony Friday, May 16.

This Friday, Hurst, local law enforcement and state dignitaries plan to honor the fallen officer.

Hurst’s granddaughter, Linda Simmons of Bellwood, said she, along with many family members, plan to attend the ceremony.
If not for Simmons, the fallen police Chief may never have been found. No reports existed at the New Brockton Town Hall on fallen officers.

“It was about a year ago that I started researching to find out what happened to my grandfather,” Simmons said. “Mama (Daisy Wambles) always said he had been shot, but I had a hard time finding any records, but I did found out granddad’s name is listed on the Washington D.C. Memorial for police officers who died in the line of duty.”

Simmons said she contacted Danny McKinley, an employee in the office of State Attorney General Troy King.

“Mr. McKinley was so helpful and he has worked on this memorial ceremony so much,” she said. “The attorney general said he wanted to attend and we have the Geneva County Sheriff Greg Ward coming and many law enforcement and city officials to honor my grandfather.”

The Hurst Memorial Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, May 16, at 2 p.m. in the New Brockton City Cemetery. The public is welcome to attend.