2009 Trooper of the Year

May 27, 2009, the Florida Cabinet honored Trooper Joshua Earrey when they named him the 2009 Trooper of the Year for the Florida Highway Patrol.

On Oct. 17, 2008, Trooper Earrey observed a vehicle as it entered Normandy Boulevard in Jacksonville from a grocery store parking lot. He became suspicious of criminal activity when he saw the driver maneuver recklessly out of the parking lot.

Earrey attempted to stop the vehicle but when the driver failed to comply, Trooper Earrey followed the suspect for a short distance before turning into a residential neighborhood. As he observed the vehicle turning into the parking lot of an elementary school, he traveled to the rear of the school where he saw the driver flee on foot. Earrey exited his patrol vehicle and pursued the suspect on foot through a wooded area, apprehending the suspect without further incident.

Earrey learned that the suspect had just carjacked the vehicle at gunpoint from a woman and her small child and had fled from Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers. Trooper Earrey later located a revolver in a ditch where the suspect had travelled during their foot pursuit. The carjacking victim responded to the scene and identified the suspect as the perpetrator of the crime.