Every morning Capt. Stacey Deans would come to work at Columbus Police Department singing gospel songs.

It’s one of Cpl. Eric Lewis’ favorite memories of the senior officer, who was head of the department’s Criminal Investigation Division. Lewis, as a supervisor in investigations, worked closely with Deans and, being a fellow fan of gospel music, was often the one finishing the song with Deans.

“He would come by and he would sing a couple of verses, and he would expect for me to chime in with him and finish the song,” Lewis said. “We’d laugh about that every morning, because me and him were usually the first ones there, or I would always beat him there. He would always walk by my office and he’d either have a gospel song playing on his phone, or he’d be singing one.”

Deans, 53, died Tuesday morning at Baldwyn Nursing Facility in Baldwyn after several months of severe health issues.

The husband and father of four had more than 25 years of law enforcement experience, including at Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, Scooba Police Department and Mississippi State Gaming Commission, said CPD Chief Fred Shelton. When he came on as head of CID last year, Shelton, Lewis and several other officers already knew him through his extensive law enforcement career in other parts of the state.

Friends and family described Deans as a cheerful, encouraging person who had a knack for boosting other people’s spirits.

“My daddy was a very inspiring man, a great supporter,” said Deans’ daughter, Laneisha Deans.

Shelton said Deans was always the officer who was cheering up other officers at crime scenes.

“He was the funny guy to help take our minds off the tragedy and keep us motivated,” Shelton said.

Rhonda Sanders, a patrol officer and president of the Community Benefit Committee, which hosted a fundraiser for Deans’ medical battle on Saturday downtown, called Deans a “people person.”

“He had a way of bringing people together,” she said.

Laneisha said he was always happy, both with his family and his career.

“He loved his family,” Laneisha said. “He was a family guy. And he loved his job too. He loved law enforcement.”

‘A perfect fit for the department’

The city of Columbus hired Deans as CID captain in May 2018 on Shelton’s recommendation, and Deans began work June 1.

“At the time, it was a perfect fit for the department,” Shelton said.

Lewis said Deans was focused on staying on top of new training, research and trends in law enforcement, often leaving new studies on Lewis’ desk and keeping track of changing state statutes.

He held the investigators to high standards. He also ensured the investigators got to know each other and could work together, usually by arranging for them to see each other outside the office — for example, Lewis said, they all went out to lunch a lot.

That’s an important aspect to CID, where investigators often spend more time with each other than with their own families, said Lewis.

“It put us in the place of being together a whole lot,” he said. “He preached that being a family and always … staying a family and looking out for each other. That was something he was real big on. He was big on family — not just immediate family, but professional family.

“We are a closely-knit family back in criminal investigations,” he added.

Earlier this year, Shelton said, Deans also began emphasizing cold cases, reviewing them and assigning them to investigators.

“He wanted us to go back through them and try to find anything that we can put together or piece together, something that was missed, pretty much go back through to … ultimately get some kind of resolution or give some kind of resolution to the families of the victims,” Lewis said.

But before much progress could be made on those cases, Deans left on medical leave in early May.

Deans’ wife, Yolanda Deans, previously told The Dispatch Deans was responding to a call on May 4 when he felt extreme weakness in his left arm and had a colleague call an ambulance. After being treated at the emergency room at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle for a couple of days, he was taken to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo on May 6 for surgery to treat a severe spinal chord compression that had left him mostly paralyzed.

Deans was in intensive care for more than a week after surgery, but had recovered enough to move to Baldwyn Nursing Facility where was undergoing physical therapy. Though doctors told Deans he likely would not be able to walk for 18 months to two years, he was already getting around with the aid of a walker.

Many of the department’s officers got to see Deans and his family Saturday during a bike rally to raise money for his medical bills, which the Community Benefit Committee put on. Officers said Deans seemed in such high spirits and good health that his death Tuesday came as a shock.

“He was the uplifting type,” Lewis said. “… He rubbed off on you. Whenever you (were) having a bad day or kind of overwhelmed with a bunch of stuff, he would always come and pick you up. He cared about the people that (were) under his supervision. He took care of us and he looked out for us. He wanted the best of us and he would always speak highly of us.”

Shelton said the department has not yet begun advertising for a new CID head. In the meantime, Lewis will continue as interim.

“We’re all hurt,” Shelton said. “We have a lost a family member.”

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