Palmetto Police Sgt. Lee Gragg has been named one of eight nationalist finalists in the America’s Most Wanted All-Star Contest, sponsored by Sprint, after surviving a routine traffic stop gone wrong. Gragg is in the running for a $10,000 Grand Prize if he can receive enough online votes.
On Sept. 12, 2009, three Palmetto officers were conducting a road safety check when they encountered a driver without a license. Sgt. Gragg, the traffic stop supervisor, was called over to investigate further. As he approached the convertible, he noticed the driver was on his cell phone and asked him to end his call multiple times. The driver ignored his requests and, instead, revved his engine.
Sgt. Gragg acted quickly. He reached inside the vehicle in an attempt to subdue to the driver, but was instead thrown off-balance into the back of the convertible as the driver sped off. Three hundred yards later, the fleeing driver crashed into a brick mailbox, which flipped the car and killed him instantly. Sgt. Gragg was ejected from the vehicle and thrown 20 feet in the air. He broke his back, seventeen bones in his face and jaw, suffered a brain injury and lost his left eye as a result.
Remarkably, after four months of recovery, Sgt. Gragg returned to light police duty to continue the important work he feels he was born to do. Even after staring life-threatening danger in the face, he continues to bravely protect and serve his community.
Sgt. Gragg is the sixth of eight weekly finalists to be chosen by the public in this year’s AMW All-Star Contest.
Each weekly finalist has been profiled on America’s Most Wanted (Saturdays, 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT on FOX). Through online votes, the public will choose the grand-prize winner. In May, AMW Host John Walsh will present the 2010 AMW All-Star winner with a check for $10,000 at the NASCAR SPRINT Cup Series™ All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Members of the public may vote for their favorite first responder once a day, every day. Grand-prize winner voting will run from April 15th-May 3rd. Please visit http://www.amw.com/allstar for more information.
