MARIETTA, Ga. — Helping coordinate a number of law enforcement agencies investigating the slaying of Auburn freshman Lauren Burk netted Columbus Police Sgt. Harvey Hatcher the Officer of the Month award for March.
Hatcher, a 22-year veteran of the police department, formally received the award on April Fools' Day, which drew some good-natured ribbing from fellow officers, the robbery/homicide sergeant said.
"I knew I was going to get kidded about it," Hatcher added.
The joint investigation into Burk's death that involved police on both sides of the Chattahoochee River played a large role in the award, Hatcher said.
Burk of Marietta, Ga., was found lying along Ala. 147 between Lee Road 72 and U.S. 280 on March 4, suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to East Alabama Medical Center, where she died. Police later found Burk's 2001 black Honda Civic on fire in the Hinton Field parking lot on Auburn's campus.
Courtney Larrell Lockhart, 23, of 45 Lee Road 960 in Smiths, Ala., was arrested March 7. He later admitted to forcing the 18-year-old into her car on March 4 and making her remove her clothes before fatally shooting her, documents state.
"There were a lot of people involved," Hatcher said. "I was aware that there was an armed robbery."
Columbus police said the day of Lockhart's arrest that he was also a suspect in the March 6 robbery of a 27-year-old woman with her 3-year-old child in the parking lot of Sam's Club, 5448-A Whittlesey Blvd. The man demanded the woman's purse at gunpoint before driving off in a silver two-door Honda or Toyota with an Alabama license plate, police said.
Hatcher had a partial number for the vehicle used in the March 6 robbery and a vehicle description. He worked with Phenix City Police, which pulled over a vehicle that matched that description on March 7. Lockhart, the driver of that car, was arrested.
"It was a lot of cooperation back and forth," Hatcher said.
In addition to a plaque, Hatcher also gets a prime parking space in the parking deck behind the Public Safety Building.
"I enjoy my job," Hatcher said. "I enjoy helping people. I love spending time with my family -- my wife and my four kids."
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