SCOTT SEXTON
News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.
RALEIGH, N.C. — To the average taxpayer — the overwhelming majority of us — House Bill 272 reads like a technical adjustment to an employee pension plan.
Because it is.
HB 272 would allow police, prison guards, sheriff’s deputies and probation/parole officers to buy up to four years’ creditable service time and apply it to their retirement date. Which basically means that under specific conditions — completing advanced training and/or higher education — a veteran cop in her/his early 50s with an aching back or blown knees could retire with 26 years in and get credit for the full 30 years.
It doesn’t directly affect many people, and in a $33.3 billion state budget, the cost amounts to sofa change. The officers — or the cities and counties that employ them — pay the cost of the buydowns.
As such, the text of the bill is straightforward and relatively unremarkable.
But its working title, at least here in the Triad, does matter: The Sergeant Mickey Hutchens Act.
You might not remember the name right off, but most longtime residents are immediately familiar with how he died.
Hutchens, a lifelong resident of Yadkin County, was on duty the morning of Oct. 7, 2009, when police received a call that, with a different ending, would have been classified as a domestic disturbance.
That’s not to downplay its seriousness. Domestic disputes are in all likelihood the most unpredictable — and potentially volatile — summons cops receive on a regular basis.
A man, Monte Denard Evans, not that long out of prison, showed up at a Bojangles’ restaurant on Peters Creek Parkway intent on confronting his ex-wife. Employees knew Evans was bad news and were aware that he sometimes carried a gun.
So when he showed up and showed out, someone hit a panic button inside the restaurant to alert police. Evan’s ex and another worker retreated to a walk-in freezer for safety
“I was crying — I thought I was going to die,” an employee said. “I was calling people to tell them my goodbyes.”
When Hutchens rolled up, Evans bolted. Hutchens, a 27-year veteran of the Winston-Salem Police Department, and a couple younger officers chased him toward the greenway.
When they caught him, Evans turned and shot Hutchens. Officer Daniel Clark — who had been grazed by a bullet himself — ended the struggle by returning fire and killing Evans.
Remember him now? I thought you might. Sgt. Hutchens died five days later. He was 50.
Everything you need to know about his character could be found in a simple greeting on an answering machine at Forbush Baptist Church .
In case of an emergency, call Mickey Hutchens.
He was a deacon and often could be found tending to something the church needed.
“Mickey and I grew up in the department together,” said then-Lt. Billy Riggs after Hutchens’ passing. “If it was the right thing to do, then that’s what Mickey would do. I’ve done some stupid things in my time, but Mickey never did anything stupid.”
Anyhow, HB 272, sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Zenger, R- Forsyth, was named for Sgt. Hutchens at the suggestion of the Police Benevolent Association for two reasons: to honor his memory and create a cost-effective way to offer an incentive for veteran cops with 10 or 15 years service to stay at it.
“It’s also a recruiting tool,” said Assistant Chief David Rose of the WSPD. “It’ll help us keep people longer.”
If/when it passes the state Senate — the bill passed in the House last week 113-0 — Rose said the act also will serve as an additional incentive for officers to work toward earning bachelor’s degrees and advanced training certificates.
Just as important, the Sgt. Mickey Hutchens Act shines a light back on a good cop and a better human being.
“For his family, I think Mickey would have been retired when he was killed,” Rose said. “You can coulda, woulda, shoulda all you want, but it’ll help (veteran) officers, and in honor of him for sure.”
—
© 2025 the News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.). Visit www.news-record.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.