Deputy Shayne Norton received the Summit County sheriff’s medal of valor Aug. 13, and the office made the announcement Aug. 19.
The medal is modeled on the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, which the president of the United States awards annually. Anyone at the sheriff’s office can nominate someone who exhibits exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect human life.
Norton’s lieutenant nominated him for his actions Nov. 9, 2023, during a car chase with 41-year-old Donald Wayne Ball. Norton fatally shot Ball after the Wasatch County man crashed his truck and ran toward Norton’s vehicle holding a long object.
Sheriff Frank Smith and Chief Deputy Kacey Bates ultimately decide whether to award the medal. They say the medal ceremonies are generally kept small, with members of the sheriff’s office and the deputy’s loved ones.
“We actually read the letter that was written by his lieutenant nominating him for this award,” Bates said, “which they have never heard before. So that's why it was such an emotional moment.”
Ball, a former Marine and Blackwater guard who served multiple tours in Iraq, had an active no-bail warrant last November for failing to complete court-ordered mental health treatment and not contacting probation officers.
Norton had attempted to pull him over in Kamas late Nov. 8, but Ball fled toward Woodland and ultimately crashed his truck after crossing the Provo River on Bench Creek Road into Wasatch County.
Dashboard camera footage shows Ball exit and run back toward Norton’s vehicle with a long object in his hand, what Smith says was a three-foot metal pipe.
Norton is heard yelling commands, then firing 11 shots. Ball died from his wounds at the scene.
“With that act of bravery comes the guilt of taking a life,” Smith said. “When you take a life, it doesn't only affect the individual whose life was taken and their family. It affects the deputy and his or her family, so it's an absolute act of bravery—but the repercussions personally from that are overwhelming. And no one ever seems to look at that side of the equation.”
KPCW could not reach Norton for comment Aug. 20. Smith and Bates declined to contact him on his day off.
“Just because we're police officers doesn't mean we have to die for the cause,” the sheriff said. “Deputy Norton showed bravery, determination—and if [Ball] would have taken deputy Norton's life and recovered the weapon that Deputy Norton had, who knows the carnage and damage which he would have bestowed upon our community, constituents and citizens?”
The Summit County Sheriff’s Office has awarded five medals of valor over the past two decades, including Norton’s.
Detective Wes Stewart received one in May for using his patrol vehicle to stop an intoxicated wrong-way driver on U.S. Highway 40.
According to Bates, the other three also went to deputies after officer-involved shootings.
