By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

A Fayette County 911 operator has been nominated for a Governor's Public Safety Award for her performance in helping thwart an April 26 carjacking in Fayetteville.

Holly Eason answered the call from Esther Green after Green and her baby were abducted by a man who took control of her Mercedes in the parking lot of the Banks Station shopping center. The quick-thinking Green left the cell phone on in her child's diaper bag and kept police on the trail as the car ventured north into Riverdale.

Eason initially thought the call was a domestic dispute because of Green's screaming, but a friend of the victim also called 911 within a minute of the first call, telling authorities that it was indeed a kidnapping.

Eason listened as Green called out highway numbers, and she and three other dispatchers had police units in Fayette County and bordering jurisdictions on the alert for each new piece of information during the 16-minute ordeal.

Green and her baby were safe and sound when the carjacker and his accomplice were arrested in Riverdale.

Eason, who had been on the job for only nine months when the carjacking took place, appeared on national television in the ensuing days as word spread of the incident. She was nominated in the “Act of Heroism” category for the second annual Governor's Public Safety Awards.

Also nominated was former Fayette County firefighter Matt Mosely, now with the city of Atlanta Fire Department, who also gained national recognition just two weeks prior to Eason for his daring rescue of a man trapped atop a crane during a fire at a downtown cotton mill.

Mosely was lowered from a helicopter, as rush-hour commuters and thousands of local television viewers watched.

He reached the victim and attached him to a harness before both men were whisked to safety.

More than 60 nominees from across the state have been submitted for acts of heroism or outstanding job performance in more than a dozen state public safety agencies.

A committee representing the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, Georgia Sheriff's Association, Fire Chiefs Association of Georgia/Georgia State Fire Fighters Association, Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Management Agency of Georgia, 911 Advisory Committee, and Prosecuting Attorneys' Council, as well as other state agencies with public safety authority, participated in the selection process.

The awards ceremony will be Tuesday, Oct. 26, at 10 a.m. at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.