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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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For Chattanooga police Sgt. Ernest Craw, service is a family thing

Contributed Photo Chattanooga Police Department / Sgt. Ernest Craw
Contributed Photo Chattanooga Police Department / Sgt. Ernest Craw Contributed Photo Chattanooga Police Department / Sgt. Ernest Craw
photo Contributed Photo Chattanooga Police Department / Sgt. Ernest Craw

Chattanooga police Sgt. Ernest Craw is a man of service.

In 1996, he donated a kidney to his pastor, Bishop W.C. Hunter, helping extend Hunter’s life for 20 more years. Hunter died in 2016 at the age of 80.

“Being able to help him, his family during that time, because I watched him give selfishly, to the community and also to church members,” Craw said in an interview with the Times Free Press. “To be able to do that to help him [was] a blessing.”

Craw’s position in the police academy was held for another year after his surgery.

“I was [enrolled for] the ’96 academy, but I just got out of hospital from the operation, so I couldn’t make it,” Craw said. “So they actually saved me a space in the ’97 academy.”