<a Eutaw Police Chief
Tommy Summerville
href=”http://greenecountydemocrat.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/parade-for-tommy.jpg”>Eutaw Police Officers march through downtown Eutaw as an honor guard for the hearse bearing the body of Eutaw Police Chief Tommy Summerville to St. Stephens Episcopal Church where funeral services were held.

Eutaw Police Chief Tommy Summerville, 56, died at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham on Thursday, December 9, 2010.
Summerville had been Chief of Police in Eutaw since September of 2007 and had been on the force for 33 years.
He was a graduate of the University of West Alabama. He was chosen as an “Outstanding Young Man of America” in 1986 and in March of 1998 he was named Assistant Police Chief of Eutaw.
“He was an excellent police chief, he had a great knowledge of the law enforcement field,” said Eutaw Police Sgt. Derrick Coleman. “He had a heart of gold. He loved and cared for everyone.”
Summerville was a familiar sight in Eutaw, patrolling the streets even after becoming chief. He was the department’s first K-9 officer and for several years, he and his K-9 companion Rain not only continued to patrol the streets and neighborhoods of Eutaw but visited in schools where he demonstrated Rain’s ability to the youth.
“He just had a big heart for everyone, his officers and the citizens,” Coleman said. “He loved working with Rain and his officers.
“It’s what he did before he made chief, and it’s what he kept on doing,” said Coleman.
On Monday, December 13, a formal police funeral was held for Summerville beginning with a march around the Eutaw Town Square. Law enforcement personnel, not only from Greene County, but surrounding counties as well, gathered to pay honor to one of their own.
Services were held at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, with interment in Pleasant Ridge, AL.
Summerville is survived by a wife and an adult son.