The following statement was received from Police Officer Covington with reference to his recent conviction at Chatham:
“I, W.D. Covington, want the public to know just how I have been treated in my trials at Chatham, Va.
“I was convicted through prejudice and not by evidence. I have served two years in both the states of Virginia and North Carolina. I have always used my very best judgment that I knew how.
“The reason I crossed the line on this occasion was to notify the Virginia authorities as they had asked me to do, to catch this man George Bryant, who had committed a felony in Virginia by shooting an officer by the name of Jerry Metz. Besides, he was a fugitive from justice in North Carolina, having several different charges against him in North Carolina.
“I went across the line with no intent. If I had Had any idea of coming in contact with this man over there, I would not have crossed the line under any circumstances, whatever.
“As I was going to telephone I was fired upon by this man, George Bryant. I fired in defense of my own life, and my conscience is perfectly clear. I told it just like it all happened on the witness stand.
“(I have) always been very careful (with my?) gun, and I have (used my?) gun only in defense (??), and I have always made it a practice to caution other officers who would be with me about using their guns. I put 10 reputable citizens on the stand to prove my character. Some of these men had known from the cradle up. They all gave me a good character. The state did not put on a single witness to attack my character. It is hard after serving as an officer as long as I have and exposed in all kinds of weather until I have lost my health, and now to be taken away from my family and be put in jail unjustly, and my family needs me to work for their support all the time.”
From the front page of the Reidsville Review, April 30, 1923
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