LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Mourning in southeast Arkansas with the passing of a leader in the region’s first-responder community.
Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. commemorated the passing of EMS supervisor John Badgley who died Sept. 26 due to cancer. Woods called Bagley “a public safety legend in Southeast Arkansas” in his condolences.
“I was saddened to learn of John’s passing. Ultimately, John and I shared the same goals; to keep citizens safe, mitigate harm, and bring order to chaos. But John was an individual who could calm a hurricane. Large in stature yet even larger at heart, he simply had a calm and confident way and saving many lives throughout his career that he was so passionate about,” Woods said. “To those who were touched by John, you were fortunate. The John Badgley I knew definitely had a household name in the emergency services field, working so many years at Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. (EASI) as a paramedic, trainer, and manager. My experience with him was that he was a public servant that truly believed in service before self.”
Badgley had been the operations manager for Emergency Ambulance Services, Inc., a Pine Bluff -based service provider. Woods recalled Badgley had been instrumental in the passage of an Arkansas law in 2021 which allowed paramedics to carry a concealed handgun after a paramedic in that city was shot.