On-duty deputy, 79, suffers ‘serious medical situation.’

Oceana County Sheriff’s Deputy Roy Strait

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On-duty deputy, 79, suffers ‘serious medical situation.’

By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.

SHELBY — Oceana County Sheriff’s Deputy Roy Strait, 79, suffered a “serious medical situation” that is “believed to be a cardiac event” while on duty Thursday morning, Oct. 13, according to Lt. Craig Mast.

Strait is being “treated aggressively” at Mercy Hospital in Muskegon, Mast said.

The long-time deputy was on a truancy call at 6:30 a.m. on Michigan Avenue in Shelby when he apparently collapsed at the scene, Mast said. Fellow officers at the scene immediately gave Strait aide. “They were very heroic,” Mast said. “That gave Roy a huge fighting chance, because he was in the company of first responders.”

“It’s an emotional day for the sheriff’s office,” Mast said. “We are a small department and very closely knit.” Oceana County Sheriff Robert Farber and other sheriff’s office personnel were quickly notified of the situation, he said.

It was not immediately known if Strait was in the midst of physical activity when he apparently collapsed.

Strait has been a deputy with Oceana County Sheriff’s Office since 1994. In 1997, he started the Roy’s Kids Program through the sheriff’s office that helps children in need. He has been chief of police for the Village of New Era since 2008.

Strait ran for sheriff in the primary election last August against Mast, who won the election, and Undersheriff Tim Priese.

There is no maximum age requirement for deputies, Mast said, although the minimum age is 21.