July 25,2020 seemed to be a normal summer day in Mississippi. Deputies Dylan Pickle and Zack Wilbanks were preparing for their shift at the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. It started out as a normal Saturday night with the “A Team” meeting for supper 30 minutes before they went on shift like they did every Saturday night. None of the members of the A Team nor the Pickle and Wilbanks families knew that it would be a night that would forever change their lives.

Deputy Pickle and Deputy Wilbanks set up a safety checkpoint at the intersection of Hamilton Road and Seely Drive. Once they parked their cars in place( Dylan’s on Hamilton Road and Zack’s on Seely Drive) turned their blue lights on and grab their flashlights they were ready to begin. Just before 10pm a car ran through the checkpoint and struck both Deputy Pickle and Deputy Wilbanks. Both officers were rushed to NMSMC in Tupelo. Deputy Dylan Scott Pickle passed away at 12:01am while in surgery. Deputy Zack Wilbanks was stable but critical in the ICU and had to undergo surgery to place a rod in his leg the next day. Deputy Wilbanks also suffered a skull fracture and hearing loss in his left ear but nothing could prepare his family for having to tell him the his partner, friend and brother in blue did not survive.

Dylan Scott Pickle was born July 2,1996. In his short 24 years on this earth Dylan made a huge impact in peoples lives. It could be a person that knew him their whole life, or someone that just met him. Dylan had a contagious smile and a heart of gold. His biggest purpose in life was to serve and protect. Dylan did just that by joining the National Guard at age 17. He was deployed to Syria once and received many medals of honor for his deployment. He had a biting passion for law enforcement and wanted to be a cop since he was little. Dylan paid his way through the police academy. He joined MCSO in 2016 and with lots of dedication he was promoted to patrolman in June.

Deputy Wilbanks and Mrs. Debbie credit their faith in God and their families during the past 17 months.

The person that was driving the car that night was never charged. As for Mrs. Debbie and the rest of Dylan’s family they have had no luck with having Dylan’s voice heard by the District Attorney or the Highway Patrol.

So here is my question to you: If assault on a police officer is punishable by law, then why isn’t running through a checkpoint and striking two officers with your car?

With this petition we hope for justice and for Dylan and Zack’s story to be told. There are a lot of details from this case that don’t add up. Dylan had his whole life ahead of him and Zack’s life will never be the same. The lives of their families are forever changed.