LIVINGSTON — Former East Baton Rouge Sheriff Deputy Nick Tullier’s legacy lives on.
On the anniversary of his death, Tullier’s parents donated the van used to help care for the fallen deputy to another family in need.
Tullier was shot during an ambush on law enforcement on July 17, 2016, in Baton Rouge on Airline Hwy. He died on May 5, 2022.
On Friday, Tullier’s parents Mary and James donated the van to Chris Scott and his wife Crystal Scott.
“I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos and lupus about 10 years ago and diagnosis started to show decreasing symptoms about six years ago,” Crystal Scott said. “Ehlers-Danlos is a connective tissue disease that causes deuteriation of your collagen so it no longer supports any of your soft tissue so you can’t walk anymore. It eats all the soft tissue in your body so I started taking treatments for all that. It’s a progressive disease and it’s progressed to the point now that I can’t sustain my body weight so that’s left me in a wheelchair.”
The Scott family lives in Texas and started a gofundme to purchase a vehicle for Crystal’s care but they were short. That’s where the Tullier family came in.
“We were floored,” Chris Scott said. “We spoke to the Tullier family by phone and we told,’ them, ‘There’s no way we could repay you and their response was, ‘There’s no repayment necessary,’ so it’s beyond words and beyond my capability to describe what it means to me.”
Mary Tullier was happy they could help someone after they received the van themselves via donation in 2017.
“I think it’s fantastic that we can give someone something like this that we used for Nick,” she said. “Today is not any easier than it has been all year but it’s not been easy for us since Nick was shot. It’s a day-to-day process.”
James Tullier said they had been trying to figure out who to give the van to but when they spoke to the Scotts, they had an answer.
“When we found out about their need, we immediately felt a relief,” he said.
Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard was present for Friday’s event and serves on the Nick Tullier Strong Foundation.
“At the end of the day, this is just something that warms your heart…it does,” he said. “These guys truly loved Nick…we all did. His family just continues to do things for the right reasons and how this kind of transpired is just the calling and trying to help each other out and somebody calls and says I think I can help you out and the next thing you know, they’re getting a van donated and it’s just awesome, it really is and if this doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what does. Nick will be here forever.”
The money the Scott family did raise in their gofundme prior to learning they were receiving a van, they will put it towards any needed maintenance.
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