Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Retiree begins second career as a deputy

Driven by 9/11, D.J. Lansaw graduates from a police academy at age 69.

FORT MYERS - While many 69-year-olds in Florida are making tee times and taking it easy, D.J. Lansaw is beginning a new career - as a deputy sheriff.

Inspired by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the retired construction surveyor paid $2,418 to attend a six-month police academy. He graduated Monday with a job as a road deputy with the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

"I wasn't the fastest or the strongest, but I wasn't at the bottom of the class either," said Lansaw, a father of two grown daughters, who has volunteered since 2002 at the Sheriff's Office, where his wife works as a clerk. "I hope a lot of other people see this and say, "If he can do it, I can do it.' We need more deputies."

Sheriff's Maj. Rob Homan said Lansaw cleared the mandatory physical, medical and psychological screenings with ease. "He's not your typical 69-year-old."

Lansaw, an Army veteran and National Rifle Association pistol instructor, said his longtime work as a country line dance instructor had helped him stay in shape.

He said the hardest part of the academy wasn't the pushups or daily runs. "The hardest thing was getting pepper-sprayed. That was kind of painful."

He won't be the oldest deputy on the force. Cpl. Harvey Hudnall, 74, works as a patrol deputy, Cpl. John Foley, 72, works in the agency's civil division.

[Last modified December 15, 2005, 00:32:19]