Retired Chief Bridges dies

By April Silvaggio  

FEBRUARY 5, 2010 5:38 p.m. (0)

Retired Greenville Police Chief Mike Bridges, who led the agency from 1987 until July 2000, passed away Wednesday evening at his home in Greer.

His family was by his side.

A career law enforcement officer, his decision to retire at the age of 52, which he announced in February 2000, came after learning he would need more heart surgery on a valve that had been implanted the previous fall.

The earlier surgery had repaired a heart value that had been defective since birth.

“Knowing what I’m facing, I felt like I needed to go ahead and get these responsibilities off my shoulders,” he said at the time. “I have no regrets.”

Bridges' health had been deteriorating over the past year, and he had been in and out of the hospital, most recently in January with a lengthy stay caused by a bout with pneumonia.

At the time of his retirement, he had spent more than three decades policing.

Bridges' funeral will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Pendleton Street Baptist Church in downtown Greenville, with burial at the Graceland East Mausoleum on Woodruff Road. His family will receive friends from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Thomas McAfee Funeral Home.

Retired Greenville Police Chief Harold C. Jennings, who turned over leadership of the Greenville Police Department to Bridges in 1987, called Bridges an outstanding law enforcement officer and a friend.

“I was proud to have him serve under my command,” Jennings said. “Upon my retirement, I was pleased to have him take my place as chief of police. He loved the department and the citizens of Greenville as much as I did, and I did not have to worry. The City of Greenville was safe under his command. He was responsible for providing a better quality of life for us all. He was an outstanding gentleman and a faithful friend. Gladys and I shall miss him very much. His passing leaves a hole in our hearts.”

South Carolina Supreme Court Justice John Kittredge said Bridges was part of a group of men who became like family to him after they met in the late 1970s. Along with Kittredge and Bridges, the group included Billy Wilkins, Dave Henderson and  Jim Christopher.

“Little did we know the depth of the lifelong friendships that lay before us,” Kittredge said. “Mike Bridges was the consummate detective. His investigative skills were superb. Under then Capt. Jennings, Mike Bridges elevated the professionalism and experience of the Greenville Police Department’s Detective Division to a whole new level.

“Remnants of that same standard of excellence remain in that Detective Division to this day that can be traced through Dave Henderson and Jim Christopher back to the foundation that Mike Bridges laid under Chief Jennings,” Kittredge said. “The law enforcement community has lost a giant in Mike Bridges.”

Henderson, who  served as a captain on Bridges’ command staff, said the retired chief never lost his love of policing.

“We knew each other for a lot of years, and his heart was always with the Greenville Police Department,” said Henderson, who has also retired from the department. “He kept up with things after he retired, and wanted to know what was happening up there.”

One of the accomplishments Bridges was most proud of was implementing community policing at the Greenville Police Department. It was an approach that became an immediate success in neighborhoods throughout the city, no matter whether it was West Greenville or Augusta Road.

“When communities got involved, things really began to change,” Henderson said. “That was because of him.”

Wilkins, who retired as chief justice of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, visited with Bridges in his home Thursday afternoon.

Wilkins said the chief smiled when he recognized him.

“After I was elected solicitor in 1975, I came to know Mike Bridges, who was a sergeant in the homicide division,” Wilkins said. “He was an excellent investigator, and he understood human nature. He was always fair and honest with everyone. But when he zeroed in on an offender, he made a solid case.”

“He was the epitome of what we want our law enforcement officers to be,” Wilkins said. “He rose through the ranks to the top of his profession. The Greenville Police Department is one of the finest in the nation, and that is the legacy of Chief Mike Bridges.”

Retired Greenville Police Chief Willie Johnson, who succeeded Bridges in 2000, said he was deeply saddened by the loss of a man he considered a mentor.

“We both were Laurens County boys,” Johnson said. “He trained me when I was a detective, and I spent my career working with him and for him. He was a fine person and will be missed by the entire law enforcement community.”

Retired Greenville County Sheriff’s Capt. Bruce Cannon, who served on the command staffs of both retired Sheriff Johnny Mack Brown and the late Sheriff Sam Simmons, said Greenville had lost a true public servant.

“Chief Bridges was a career police officer who was proud to have served the citizens of Greenville.”

Bridges was 62.

He is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and daughter, Mylissa Bridges Vickery of Simpsonville.