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Georgia Police K9 Foundation: Keeping our state and its K9s safer
Briley and Rio
Statesboro Police Department Cpl. Kyle Briley and his K9 partner, Rio.

Dogs are often called man’s best friend. As a dog-owner, I can confirm that they are one of life’s greatest gifts. Unending loyalty, constant admiration and a sense of security when your dog is around are some of the benefits that everyday people enjoy when they share their lives with dogs. 

For a K9 handler, those benefits are increased exponentially. Sometimes a police dog saves their handler’s life; other times, the duo works together to save lives. In this case, the handler gets to reap the rewards of a loving, carefree dog at home and a tough, well-trained partner at work.

What many don’t know is that when a K9 retires from the department that it serves, the financial responsibility of that dog’s care typically becomes that of the handler. It’s extremely rare that a handler doesn’t adopt the dog that’s worked by his or her side for years. That financial burden can sometimes be substantial due to the strenuous work that K9s can do, but Cpl. Kyle Briley, 33, of the Statesboro Police Department had an idea to help relieve some of that burden.  

He founded the Georgia Police K9 Foundation right here in Statesboro to not only assist handlers across the state with the care of their retired K9s, but also to supplement department funding for K9 equipment and to educate the public about K9s. 

Then-Advanced Patrol Officer Briley first had the idea in early 2016. As with many great ideas, there was inspiration based on a situation he could relate to. Statesboro Police Department K9 Bruno retired due to medical reasons, and his handler, Sgt. Andrew Samples, took on the financial responsibility for his care until Bruno’s passing in 2020. 

“It is not uncommon for departments across the nation to not have a retirement budget in place for when their K9s retire to their handlers,” Briley said. “I felt there was room for improvement in this area and quickly realized there was more work to be done for our working K9s in the state of Georgia beyond retirement.”

The foundation originally started as a way to serve retired K9s, but in 2018, expanded its mission to include active duty K9s.

The inspiration first hit Briley during a training class, and he began to visualize the impact and legacy that could be created for K9s both locally and statewide. He approached the Altrusa Club in Statesboro to talk with them about how they could support the foundation. The group had always been supportive of the K9 program and they “bought into the idea of the foundation immediately.” The Altrusa Club paid for the foundation’s state registration fee to get things started. Briley says he’ll never forget their encouragement and support. 

Briley and his four-legged partner since 2014, Rio, a 9-year-old German Shepherd, single purpose narcotic detection K9, serve and protect Statesboro alongside seven other K9s in Bulloch County. Rio is certified in identifying and pinpointing the odors of meth, marijuana, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. 

Briley says that the number of lives K9s touch would surprise many people.

“K9s play a vital role in everyone’s life. Before any large gathering, sporting event, traveling, theme park, etc., K9s are utilized to assist keeping the general public safe. K9s are willing to go into situations most humans are not to apprehend a violent criminal who has or wishes to do harm on the general public. K9s’ mere presence alone can deter crime from occurring,” Briley said. 

Also at the SPD are APO Brice Scott and lab Mono and bloodhound tracking K9 Smokey and his handler, APO Patrick Webb. At the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office, Sgt. Ryan Norton and K9 Dutch, Cpl. Mark Guarino and K9 Gismo and Cpl. Dustin Lanier and K9 Pike serve dual purposes. All three of the K9s at the BCSO are trained to track and find narcotics and apprehend suspects when needed. On the campus of Georgia Southern University, bomb-detecting K9s Bear and Rocky help to keep the students and faculty safe. 

Just like their human partners, K9s have to continue training throughout their careers. 

“People are often surprised to know how much continued training is required to maintain a proficient K9,” Briley said. “K9s are highly trained and elite but the training never stops. Our K9s are our partners that love to work and need to be trained consistently.”

These highly trained animals can cost up to $13,000, so they are an investment for departments to take on. The training, vet care, and equipment needs increase that investment even more, but with all the ways the K9s touch lives, they are definitely a worthy investment. 

“When people hear these stories and it relates to them, they really appreciate what our four-legged heroes do on a local, state and federal level. People are surprised when they hear about how the K9s come home with us and are basically a member of the family. Our K9s are treated very well by our agencies and have never gone without anything with the assistance of the foundation,” Briley said.

Briley’s everyday job as a K9 handler offers him the opportunity to give public education on a daily basis, but he supplements that with public speaking to groups and talking about the history and purpose of the foundation. 

In 2020, he even went as far as to sit in a parked car for 30 minutes with the windows only cracked to show the effect of heat on a human and to urge viewers to not leave their animals in parked cars ever — but especially during the summer months. As assets to their departments, K9s are usually protected with heat alarms inside the cars and the foundation helps to provide those alarms.

“We assist active K9s by providing vests, heat alarms, protective equipment, proper training equipment, proper training, and much more. We have assisted over 1,000 K9s in our mission,” he said. “We assist numerous retired K9s in several different ways. We also have the first and only in the line of duty death K9 memorial monument located at the state of Georgia training facility in Forsyth, Georgia.” 

The Georgia Police K9 Foundation has support from all around the state of Georgia and has supported departments all around the state. Its roots are here in Statesboro as well as many of their board members, but their influence has gone national. They’ve also inspired the creation of foundations in other states — to name a few, Maryland, Florida and Nevada. 

The Board of Directors of the foundation is a prime example of the support that the Statesboro community gives to the foundation. Six of the 10 directors are from Statesboro. And the board members aren’t all involved in law enforcement, they just believe in the cause. 

“I think people often see the end product or results from our foundation. This has come with a lot of hard work from our board members and sponsors, along with supporters throughout the nation. We do things a little differently than others and it can be a lot of hard work and the results are truly remarkable,” Briley said.

He knows that community support is vital to the foundation’s mission.

“It is very encouraging to be a part of a great community within the city and in the county that is full of supportive businesses and community members who donate in many different ways. We really do live in a great community that gives back and wants to be a part of this growing foundation,” he said. “I think the businesses know we are here to serve them at the highest level we can as public safety officers and deputies as well as a foundation. Our handlers here give it 100% knowing the community has our backs and it makes us want to be successful for them.”

There are several ways that members of the community support the foundation. They range from direct donations, Facebook birthday fundraisers to purchasing products such as candles from Fox + Hound, plushies from Emma Loves K9s, or T-shirts and hoodies from their website. Their biggest fundraiser is their annual event, An Evening for the K9s. Held in June, the event has a raffle, a silent auction, food and drink, entertainment and meet and greets with K9s teams as well as demonstrations from those teams. 

This year’s event, scheduled for June 5, will include the chance to meet K9 Mattis and K9 Eddy, dogs that participated in A&E’s America’s Top Dog competition. There will also be the chance to meet K9s Raider, Loki, Bragi, Leo, Cinder, Jax and others. Many of these dogs are social media famous with their own Instagram or TikTok followings and some of them will be travelling from across the nation from Washington state, California, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida. 

The roots of the Georgia Police K9 Foundation and Briley may be right here in Bulloch County and be supported in a huge way by our community, but the impact has certainly had a much farther reach than that. More than 1,200 K9s currently work in the state of Georgia and thanks to Briley and the Georgia Police K9 Foundation, many of them are safer. 


3 years after a 1% chance of survival
After experiencing a widow-maker heart attack, Nelson Lightsey lives to tell his story
heart attack survivor
Nelson Lightsey, front left, sits on the steps where he suffered a massive cardiac emergency and survived with the help of wife Diane, right, and neighbors Dave and Yvonne Parker, who performed CPR. "God really wanted me to still be here," Nelson Lightsey said. (SCOTT BRYANT/staff)

A “widow-maker” heart attack is among the most serious types of cardiac arrest. It is caused by a complete blockage of the left anterior descending, or LAD, coronary artery, a major pipeline for supplying blood to the heart — and as its name suggests, it is all too often deadly, because a significant amount of the heart’s tissue is affected by a blockage in this area.

But three years ago, thanks to a neighbor’s quick response and an abundance of God’s grace, Bulloch County man Nelson Lightsey beat the odds and survived to share his story.

Nelson, 73, remembers February 28, 2022, as an ordinary Monday — until it wasn’t. He had completed some installation and climbed a few ladders as part of his cabinetry business, a day that felt no different than any other day. Just a month before, he’d had his routine six-month physical, and everything came out fine. 

But later that afternoon, as he and his wife, Diane, were talking with neighbors Yvonne and Dave Parker, Nelson suddenly collapsed. Much of what occurred in the moments, days and weeks that followed is a blur for Nelson, though for Diane, the memories remain visceral. 

Dave immediately began CPR and continued for 12 minutes until paramedics could take over.

Be the beat

No matter where you are, if you witness a teen or an adult suddenly collapse, you need to act fast. Most people who experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital die because they don't receive immediate CPR from someone on the scene. 

You can save a life in two easy steps:

1. Call 911 right away, or have someone else call, and keep your phone on speaker mode.

2. Push down hard and fast in the center of the person’s chest at a rate of 100–120 compressions per minute. Thinking of a song such as “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees, “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira” or “Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash can help you keep pace. Find the American Heart Association’s complete “Don’t Drop the Beat” playlist on Spotify.

“After EMS arrived and continued with resuscitation in the ambulance, Yvonne stayed with them while Dave and I made phone calls to the children as we drove to the ER,” Diane said. 

The couple’s daughter, Shera Waters, and their son, Jameson Lightsey, were both in shock and disbelief. Amidst the fear and uncertainty of what lie ahead, Shera kept a journal to her father, which she titled “Adventures of Dad.” One early entry reads, “Once you were in the ambulance, they used the LUCAS device to continue compressions, and we were told they did have to shock you twice to get your heart back into a rhythm.”


‘In Jesus’ name’

Upon arrival at East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro, Nelson was stabilized before undergoing a CT scan. After losing consciousness and falling on the concrete outside his neighbors’ home, doctors needed to rule out any head trauma. 

Next came a cardiac catheterization, which involves inserting a thin tube into a blood vessel and guiding it to the heart in order to diagnose or treat a variety of heart problems. 

“It was determined that he had three blockages; heart bypass was the only solution,” Diane said. “Memorial Health in Savannah was where we needed to go. 

“On Tuesday morning, a LifeFlight was scheduled to transport Nelson. On departure from the helipad with him, the only thoughts that would come to my mind were ‘In Jesus’ name.’ So over and over, I repeated it. Then (I felt) a comforting grasp of my shoulders, and one of my best friends was praying fervently in my ear for his best friend and me. That was such a blessing.”

heart attack survivor
Diane Lightsey, far right, and her husband Nelson take a stroll with neighbors Yvonne and Dave Parker. It was outside their home where Nelson collapsed from a heart attack in February 2022. Dave immediately began CPR and continued for 12 minutes, until paramedics arrived. (SCOTT BRYANT/staff)

Though Diane was overcome with worry, she says she also experienced “a peace that only God can provide.”

In her journal, Shera wrote that Diane was allowed to spend that night with her husband in Savannah, despite COVID protocols that were still in place at the hospital. The following day, Nelson’s endotracheal tube was removed, and he was able to eat some ice chips and send a thumbs up to his kids in a photo texted from Diane. 

One day later, Nelson underwent triple bypass surgery.


Code Blue 5632

Two days post-op, Shera wrote, “You were tired most of the day. So, you didn’t feel like you could make it to the window to see all of us down on the front lawn,” listing the names of a host of loved ones who were there outside the hospital to support Nelson. “You FaceTimed with all of us, though, which was good to hear your voice!”

The group dispersed later that evening to try to get some rest, but Diane, Shera and Jameson soon returned after receiving a call that doctors suspected Nelson had developed a blood clot that had migrated to his lungs — a pulmonary embolism. 

“The nurse told Mom they were taking you to CT to confirm, and that’s all we knew at the moment,” Shera wrote. “We stopped at the children’s hospital ER (on the way back) to use the restroom. … While in the building, we heard, ‘Code blue 5632, code blue 5632.’ I did not know, but Mom screamed, ‘That’s his room!’” 

While undergoing the CT scan, Nelson had coded and was experiencing cardiac arrest. Despite its potential risks, doctors made the quick decision to dispense a clot-busting enzyme called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, to dissolve the blood clot.

“They said it was a life-or-death situation and this was your best chance to survive,” Shera wrote. “Once they got you back in your room, you coded again. This is the code that we heard over the intercom.”

The tPA did its job; however, the embolism had caused blood to back up into the right side of Nelson’s heart, causing it to distend and balloon. But doctors had a plan for that, too — or, more accurately, as the entire family emphasizes, God had a plan for that.

“The critical care doctor, surgeon and the cardiologist determined that the Impella device should be inserted to relieve the pressure and allow his heart to return to normal size,” Diane said. “After 48 hours with the device in his heart, conditions settled back down to normal and it was removed. Nelson’s condition improved daily, and he was discharged after 13 days.” 


Right place, right people, right God

Through it all, the Lightseys point to divine proof that Nelson was not only in the right place at the right time, but with the right people — and the right God. 

“After the initial cardiac arrest, five more 'code blues,' 11 broken ribs from CPR, triple bypass surgery, a massive blood clot and a last-ditch medical procedure, the pulmonologist said, ‘Wow, it’s a night I’ll never forget! I’ve never seen any case so severe,’” Nelson said. “My local doctor said that I had a less than 8% chance of survival of the initial cardiac arrest; probably less than 1% chance, in viewing the whole event.” 

heart attack survivor
Nelson Lightsey survived a cardiac emergency in February 2022 with the help of wife Diane and neighbors Dave and Yvonne Parker. (SCOTT BRYANT/staff)

Jameson later told his dad that the heart surgeon had warned that the first week following bypass surgery would be the hardest part of recovery, but Nelson had been sedated during that time, so when he woke up, he was relatively pain free. 

“I did not take any pain medicine after leaving Memorial. My pain was just when I would cough, and that was only for a second,” he said. “The first time I had to sneeze, I was really afraid it was going to hurt, but it didn’t! I texted Diane and told her, ‘IT DIDN’T HURT!’ 

“I believe God wanted me to be clear-headed (because) He had something to tell me as I read the Psalms every night — and that is to tell my story and to encourage others to tell their story of what God is doing in their lives.” 

Still, after 10 days of sedation, Nelson was unable to get out of bed or stand on his own, so he was transferred to Encompass Rehab in Savannah for two weeks of therapy. 

“While in rehab, God had me right where He wanted me! No distractions, so I could listen to Him,” Nelson said. “All the medical people kept telling me I was a walking miracle; I shouldn’t be here. They kept saying, ‘God has something for you to do.’”

Those medical professionals included the surgeon who had inserted Nelson’s Impella device. As it turns out, Memorial Health had used the device in just three different patients — and Nelson’s was the first one his cardiologist had ever done. 

“On my first visit to her office for a check-up, (she) looked at my chart for new patients and saw my name and just burst through the door and immediately hugged me,” he said. “She said she doesn’t normally greet new patients that way, but she knew why I was there, she didn’t have to look at my chart. Apparently, I make a big impression. Only God!” 

Before his release from rehab on March 25, 2022, nearly one month after surviving a widow-maker — the deadliest of all types of heart attacks — Nelson was given a routine psychological evaluation, during which he was asked if he had any depressing thoughts. 

“My answer to her was, ‘Are you kidding? After what God has done for me, there is no way I can be depressed!’” he said. “Every morning, I give thanks to God for another day He has set before me, and every evening I thank Him for the past day, and ask Him to watch over me and my family.

“There were no coincidences, no luck. God showed up and showed out,” he continued. “Yes, I am a walking miracle, but aren’t we all?”