Three arrests made in slaying of sheriff shot 11 times in his driveway last year

Friday, November 30th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) _ A former county sheriff and two other men were arrested and charged with murder Friday in the slaying of a sheriff-elect who was ambushed in his driveway last year just days before he was to take office, authorities said.

Former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey is among those charged with murder in connection with the death of Derwin Brown. Months earlier, he had beaten Dorsey in a bitter run-off election, promising to clean up a sheriff's department plagued by years of corruption.

Dorsey and the two other suspects were arrested before dawn Friday, DeKalb Police Chief E.J. Moody said.

Former sheriff's deputy Melvin Walker of Conyers and Daniel Isaiah Ramsey, whom Dorsey tried to recruit as a sheriff's deputy, were also charged.

Dorsey surrendered himself to police at his home about 2 a.m., Moody said.

Moody said Brown's widow, Phyllis, had been made aware of the arrests.

``She was excited. She was happy,'' Moody said. ``She is grateful for what has happened.''

All three men were scheduled to appear before a DeKalb County magistrate judge Friday afternoon. The men were being held in jail, but authorities would not disclose their exact location.

Dorsey was under investigation for allegedly using on-duty deputies to work for his private security company and for letting jail inmates work in a home repair program run by his wife.

Brown told 38 department employees they would be fired when he took office Jan. 1.

Dorsey repeatedly said he had nothing to do with Brown's slaying.