Harold Ray Presley (October 5, 1948 in

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North M ...

– July 6, 2001) was the

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Lee County, Mississippi Lee is a County (United States), county in Mississippi. At the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 82,910. The county seat is Tupelo, Mississippi, Tupelo. Lee County is included in the Tupelo micropolitan area, Tupelo Mic ...

, from 1993 to 2001. Harold Ray Presley was one of six children born to Noah Edward Presley (1890-1969) and Mary Christine “Chris” Houston. He attended local schools, but dropped out of school in the tenth grade. In 1968 he was drafted into the Army and served in Vietnam in the Twenty-ninth General Support Group. After serving four years, he received an

honorable discharge A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...

and returned to Tupelo. Harold Presley was married, and had two sons and a daughter.

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

was his

first cousin once removed Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

. Presley joined the sheriff's department in September 1987 as a narcotics officer. In 1993 he was elected sheriff of Lee County. During his tenure as sheriff, Presley received numerous awards including the Buford Pusser Award and the "Best of the Best Officers" for five years. Perceiving a need for battling both the demand and supply of illegal drugs, Mr. Presley initiated the DARE Program in local schools to educate young people, several

twelve-step program Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its members ...

s in the jail to help recovering addicts, and a tough approach to law enforcement regarding illegal drug sales and use. After earning his own

GED The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the US high ...

, he provided GED classes for training and testing inmates; he also started a work-center program for the inmates in his jail. Presley was as famous for stopping the drug trade and drug traffic in

, as

Buford Pusser Buford Hayse Pusser (December 12, 1937 – August 21, 1974) was the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1970, and constable of Adamsville from 1970 to 1972. Pusser is known for his virtual one-man war on moonshining, prostituti ...

was for chasing down the

State Line Mob The State Line Mob was an association of criminal elements that operated in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mississippi–Tennessee state line in Alcorn County, Mississippi, and McNairy County, Tennessee, along U.S. Route 45. The State Line Mob was in ...

and bootleggers in

McNairy County, Tennessee McNairy County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 26,075. Its county seat is Selmer, Tennessee, Selmer. McNairy County is located along ...

, in the 1960s. Presley died in the early morning hours of July 6, 2001, in a shootout with kidnapping suspect Billy Ray Stone (who kidnapped and killed Charlene Wright). The suspect had fled the scene of a roadblock and exchanged shots with pursuing officers. He managed to elude officers during a foot chase after crashing his vehicle. Later in the evening, Sheriff Presley received a call from Fellowship Road homeowner Robert Norris whose dogs were barking. Sheriff Harold Ray Presley, Deputy Jack Tate, and Norris entered a building behind the house where, during a gun battle, Presley pushed Deputy Tate clear of gunfire and was struck six times, mortally injured. He fired back at Stone, killing him with one shot. Wright died the following day from injuries she sustained after being ejected from her kidnapper's vehicle during the initial chase. In November of 2001, a special election was held to elect a sheriff to serve the remainder of Harold Ray Presley's term. His brother and retired law enforcement officer, Larry Presley, was elected to serve his term. Harold Ray Presley was the uncle of

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

1993 First Round Draft Pick, Kirk Presley.

Footnotes

NRLO Web PageThe Officer Down Memorial Page
* ttp://www.blinkbits.com/en_wikifeeds/Harold_Ray_Presley Blinkbits

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Presley, Harold Ray 1948 births 2001 deaths American police officers killed in the line of duty Deaths by firearm in Mississippi Mississippi sheriffs Politicians from Tupelo, Mississippi 20th-century American politicians United States Army soldiers