William Randall "Buddy" Steedley, Sr.

Charlton County Sheriff's Office — Folkston, GA

Cardiac

End of Watch November 1, 1971

Age 44

The Vigil Panel 109 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 2

Incident

Deputy Sheriff Buddy Steedley suffered a fatal heart attack after pulling over a DUI suspect to administer a balloon breathalyzer test.

When the station tried to contact Deputy Sheriff Steedley and received no response, the sheriff immediately went to the scene and found Deputy Steedley lying beside his patrol car. He was transported to the local hospital where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Deputy Steedley was survived by his wife, three daughters, one son, seven sisters, and two brothers.

Survivors

Deputy Steedley was survived by his wife, three daughters, one son, seven sisters, and two brothers.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-GA-C52E66FC
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Deputy Sheriff Steedley served with the Charlton County Sheriff's Office.
Thank you for your service to the Folkston community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Deputy Sheriff Steedley.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Charlton County Sheriff's Office

Location Folkston, GA

Platform Identity ccso.charlton.ga.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch November 1, 1971

Age 44

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Deputy Sheriff William Randall "Buddy" Steedley, Sr. is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In GA, 23 of 903 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 2.5% of this state's fallen. That is 1.5 percentage points below the national rate of 4%.

At Charlton County Sheriff's Office, 1 of 3 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 33.3% of this agency's fallen.

Charlton County Sheriff's Office

of 3 officers

33.3% Cardiac

GA — Statewide

of 903 officers

2.5% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac