CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A Cleveland County deputy is back on the job days after being attacked, and he spoke to Channel 9′s Ken Lemon about the experience.
It was just Monday when he said a man hit him in the head with rebar. But by Friday, Capt. Jody Seagle was back in uniform -- the same uniform he wore on Monday.
Seagle told Lemon that at one point, he thought he was going to die at the hands of the man who attacked him. Going back to work Friday was his way of telling the suspect “you didn’t win.”
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On Friday, Seagle was greeted with hugs and handshakes from his coworkers who supported him through this ordeal. He said despite the attack, he never wavered in the decision to come back to work, even through he worked half a day as he recovers from a concussion.
“It was a proud and rewarding moment for me that I was able to suit up and come back to work,” Seagle said.
Seagle was actually on the way to work Monday when he spotted a car parked on private property in upper Cleveland County. He said a man came out of nowhere and attacked him with a metal rod before he could get out of his car.
“He 100% come from behind my patrol car,” he said. “It’s totally unprovoked. I have no idea why this person is hitting me. I have no idea who this person is who’s hitting me.”
He blocked the first blow but another hit him in the head, and he said he was knocked out on his feet and in grave danger. He knew he couldn’t take much more.
“I think his intent was to kill me,” Seagle said. “But I knew I had to keep that person close to me and bring whatever fight that I could to him to save my life.”
It worked, and he thinks he almost got the man handcuffed, but the suspect pulled away and got in his car.
“I figured he was going to run over me,” Seagle said. “I fired several rounds into the driver’s door.”
The man drove off.
Seagle spent two days in the hospital. While in recovery, he helped investigators develop a sketch of the suspect.
The deputy was in an unmarked car that morning, but he thinks the man would have attacked even if he wasn’t an officer. When asked what he thought of his attacker, Seagle didn’t mince words.
“A coward, one, for the ambush,” he said. “Turn yourself in, take your consequences like a man. Take your charges like a man, ‘cause certainly you didn’t fight like one.”
The sheriff’s office and Crime Stoppers teamed up to offer a $10,000 reward for the capture and conviction of the suspect.
(WATCH: Cleveland County deputy returns to work after attack)
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