Maj. Gary Higginbotham of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office retired last week after nearly 29 years with the agency.
Higginbotham, 56, said he had a lot of memorable experiences during his tenure with the Sheriff’s Office.
One of those happened about four years ago when he stopped to help a few men push a broken-down van off the road near a gas station on Catlin Drive in his hometown of Barnhart.
“I get out to help, and I look over and one of the guys pushing the van is well known to law enforcement,” said Higginbotham, who retired March 22. “I thought for a moment about not helping push the van, if I am being honest. This guy had been a thorn in our side for quite some time, but I thought, ‘No, this is what I do.’”
So, he helped push the van off the road.
“Then there was the gentleman walking across the gas station parking lot toward me with quite some purpose,” Higginbotham said.
He said at first he didn’t recognize the large man, who called out to him.
“I am not sure he is happy while walking toward me, and I don’t answer him right away because I am not sure I want to admit to being Higginbotham,” he said.
It turns out the man was friendly that night, but he wasn’t when their paths first crossed.
The man told Higginbotham they met 20 years before and that during that encounter, Higginbotham and at least two other deputies saved three lives.
“He started talking about his wife and daughter,” Higginbotham said. “He talked about how successful his daughter is. After talking with him, he never came out and said it, but I took it as he was going to kill his wife, child and himself.
“He then bragged about himself a little bit. He said it took three of us to get him down. Apparently, we had a resisting of some level, and this guy is thanking me 20 years later. That is a memorable moment. Apparently, I did good and saved three lives. I am glad it happened. I think in law enforcement, we don’t really see the good we do all the time.”
Doing good
It would be hard to find someone at the Sheriff’s Office who can’t recall some of the good Higginbotham has done for Jefferson County since he joined the agency in July 1993.
“Gary’s contributions have been immeasurable,” Sheriff Dave Marshak said. “He has been such an important role model with the Sheriff’s Office and our county. He (also) served as a deputy commander with the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad, where he was well respected by chiefs and sheriffs from the entire St. Louis region.
“Jefferson County is safer because of Maj. Higginbotham’s service to our community, and I’m a better person because of the time I worked with him.”
Higginbotham spent his entire law enforcement career with the Sheriff’s Office. When he first joined the agency, he was a deputy on road patrol for about six years and then was promoted to corporal in 1999. He was promoted to sergeant in 2003, lieutenant in 2012 and captain in 2017. His final promotion came in July 2020, when he became a major.
Before his retirement, Higginbotham, who was being paid a $94,800 annual salary, was the third highest ranking officer in the organization behind the sheriff and undersheriff, Lt. Col. Tim Whitney.
Higginbotham joined the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad in 2005 and was promoted to a deputy commander in 2015. The major case squad is made up of investigators from 119 agencies throughout the area and is activated when a serious crime occurs.
As a major, Higginbotham focused on analyzing how the Sheriff’s Office operated, and he was a mentor to captains Andy Sides and Brian Taylor. The two captains were promoted in 2020, with Sides taking over Higginbotham’s previous role of law enforcement commander and Taylor taking over Sides’ duties as support services commander.
“Gary is a great friend and supervisor,” Sides said. “Gary always took time to make himself available to me to ask questions. He always provided sound answers. He didn’t just give me a quick answer to get me to go away.”
Taylor said Higginbotham’s office became an unofficial meeting place for the three command-staff officers, who would meet at least three times a day to either review how deputies handled incidents or discuss law enforcement issues.
“We had some of the best discussions of law enforcement with the three of us,” Taylor said. “We had some pretty heated discussions on what happened and what each of us would have done and why. It (Higgginbotham’s absence) will be a huge void for myself and Capt. Side. (Higginbotham) inspired conversations about what we did and how we could do it better the next time. I am happy for him. I think he is ready for retirement, but we are going to miss him a lot.”
Lessons
Sides said one of the main lessons he learned from Higginbotham is to always gather as many facts as possible before making a decision and to always make sure you consider the long-term ramifications about any decision.
“You need to dig into things, ask clarifying questions and keep that 10,000-foot view to understand what the long-term impact could be on everyone,” he said. “I often think, ‘What would Gary do?’”
Taylor said he will try to emulate how Higginbotham led by example.
“If you want to lead, you have to be a leader and do what you preach,” he said. “He also never jumped to conclusions. He wanted to get the facts and look at everything to make a well-informed decision. If I can do those two things half as good as him, I would consider my career successful.”
With Higginbotham gone, Marshak said he will be adjusting how some duties are handled in the Sheriff’s Office.
“We will execute our plan and make necessary promotions to fill the void,” Marshak said. “One of my greatest responsibilities is to develop other leaders to fill vacancies, including mine.”