'He cared more about everybody else'

Harrison was beloved as friend, role model.

By KEVIN GRAHAM, CATHERINE E. SHOICHET and SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published August 16, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Related stories Snipers take out sergeant's killer SWAT team members end a standoff with a hate-fueled gunman. | Share your thoughts | Map The victim: 'He cared more about everybody else' The suspect: Why shooter was out of jail isn't clear The sheriff: A sorrowful day A survivor: Pasco man reaches out Photo gallery: Slain in the line of duty: Bay area law enforcement losses [Courtesy of Tampa Alcohol Coalition] Harrison, 55, led a 12-member team that works full-time to curb drunken driving. He served more than 27 years with the Sheriff's Office during two stints.

BRANDON - Linda Unfried's voice quavers when she repeats the last thing she said to Sgt. Ronald "Ron" Harrison.

"Be careful," Unfried told Harrison with a hug Tuesday night as they parted at a Sheriff's Office DUI checkpoint in Brandon, where she and other Mothers Against Drunk Driving members provided food.

Hours later, a gunman shot and killed the veteran DUI team leader. Soon after, deputies tracked down the shooter, 24-year-old Michael Allen Phillips, and a SWAT team killed him in an exchange of gunfire.

"We always tell them ... they put their lives on the line for us every day," the Tampa MADD activist said. "But you never really think something like that can happen."

Harrison, 55, led a 12-member team that works full-time to curb drunken driving. He served more than 27 years with the Sheriff's Office during two stints.

"He's considered an expert in the field of DUI," said Maj. Bill Davis, Harrison's supervisor. "Over the last four to five years, he's just excelled in knowledge in the area of DUI enforcement and initiatives. Someone might be assigned to his position, but they won't replace him."

The impact of Wednesday's events reached beyond the law enforcement community.

Fathers who coached little league football alongside Harrison called him their inspiration. And mothers who shared his passion for educating people on the ills of drunken driving said they will miss his professionalism and sense of humor.

"He was just a phenomenal individual," Davis said. "Today was a particularly tragic day for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and an equally tragic day for Hillsborough County in general."

Big loss to DUI squad

Sgt. Harrison hailed from Winston-Salem, N.C., and received a bachelor's degree in political science from North Carolina Central University.

He began his law enforcement career as a police officer for the Durham, N.C., Police Department, where he worked in 1974-1975. He moved to Florida in 1975, serving four years with the Tampa Police Department before joining the Sheriff's Office.

He left Florida for a year when his former wife, Mylinda, began climbing the ranks with the FBI. The couple divorced. She serves as the special agent in charge of the FBI's Memphis office.

Harrison had three daughters, one of whom works as a Hillsborough detention deputy, one son and three grandchildren.

He returned to the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office in 1986, where he worked his way up from a patrolman to administrative corporal and then sergeant in 2002.

Co-workers say Harrison especially liked giving tours of the sheriff's breath-alcohol test vehicle, or BAT mobile, taking it to colleges and high schools, sharing his ambition to "educate, not incarcerate."

A good neighbor

In Harrison's off-duty hours, he taught aerobics. He opened his own aerobics studio in 1993, but it wasn't clear whether he still operated it.

Former neighbors in Temple Terrace remembered him as a selfless role model.

"He cared more about everybody else than he did about himself," said Ken Wing, who coached the Cougars junior varsity little league football team in Temple Terrace with Harrison in the late 1990s.

When children in the neighborhood couldn't afford athletic shoes or pay registration fees to play in the league, Harrison did it for them, Wing said.

"We all loved him," said John Walters, a little league referee supervisor. "Even the adults looked up to him. Not just because he was a cop, but he was a good guy. I don't know if there were enough hours in the day for all the things this guy did to contribute to the community."

Harrison's neighbors in Brandon gathered Wednesday to talk about "the guy with the Corvette." That's how a lot of neighbors knew him, the friendly deputy frequently seen outside washing his black Corvette.

"Every time we'd see each other, we'd say hi," said Rick Berrios, 51.

Both men loved cars, so Berrios often walked across the street to talk.

"I always said to my wife, we should invite him over for dinner," Berrios said. "We should have. I'm so disgusted."

Times researcher John Martin and staff writers Alexandra Zayas and Casey Cora contributed to this report. Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com or 813 226-3433.

Sgt. Ronald "Ron" Harrison

Age: 55

Occupation: Supervisor for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Operation 3D DUI squad.

Work history: Worked for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office for more than 27 years, with 32 years total in law enforcement.

Family: Three daughters, one son and three grandchildren.

[Last modified August 16, 2007, 00:26:55]