Staly to have minor surgery on July 1 after injury during drug raid in April

'I’m not a sheriff that sits behind a desk,' Staly said. Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge will be acting sheriff for the brief period of anesthesia.

By Melissa Morreale
| 8:40 a.m. June 29, 2022

'Sometimes injuries occur to deputies enforcing the law, even to the sheriff. This is a minor outpatient procedure with a quick recovery,' Sheriff Rick Staly said.

Palm Coast Observer
News

Sheriff Rick Staly is scheduled for outpatient surgery July 1, to repair a meniscus tear that he sustained in an April drug house raid.

In the April raid, Staly joined members of the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Unit and FCSO SWAT team to serve a narcotics search warrant in the Mondex area of Flagler County. During the raid, he hyperextended his left knee and has been under a physician’s care since.

When improvements were not occurring, an MRI revealed a 3mm tear in the meniscal cartilage of his left knee. Staly is scheduled for outpatient surgery on July 1, to repair the injury.

“As the community knows, I’m not a sheriff that sits behind a desk and never will be,” Staly said. “Sometimes injuries occur to deputies enforcing the law, even to the sheriff. This is a minor outpatient procedure with a quick recovery.”

Staly will be placed under anesthesia for a very brief period of time. During this time, Chief of Staff Mark Strobridge will be the acting sheriff in the event that a critical incident occurs in Flagler County.