For Luis Padgett, patrolling the county's streets is sometimes nerve-wracking, other times gratifying
By Katie Campbell
For Deputy Sheriff Luis Padgett, life is an adventure ranging from shootouts to family feuds to dopers trying to finance their next high.
The veteran crime fighter simultaneously helps people, whether recovering their stolen property or finding their runaway teens.
As a young boy, Padgett, 40, dreamed of becoming either a police officer or a fireman. After serving in the Marine Corps for four years, he fulfilled that dream, becoming first a correctional officer in Fresno County and then for the past 15 years a deputy sheriff in Madera County.
Life as a deputy is “sometimes a little nerve-wracking when you’re in a car by yourself and there’s six or seven gang members, you’re in the middle of nowhere and it takes 15 minutes to get you,” Padgett said, noting deputies usually are alone in their patrol cars...