Lauderdale Co. deputy fired, charged with DUI after wreck in patrol car

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) - Authorities say Lauderdale County deputy Jason Walker has been fired and charged with DUI after he crashed his patrol car last Friday morning.

“E-911 dispatch was notified by an off-duty deputy that he had been involved in a motor vehicle crash,” Sollie said.

Sollie said Walker got off work around four o’clock Thursday afternoon. He then went to Marion where he was on-duty as a police officer until 11 p.m. The crash happened on Gum Logging Rd. around 12:30 a.m.

“It was determined that he was operating a marked unit, off-duty and unauthorized,” Sollie said.

The county-owned car he was driving was destroyed. Walker wasn’t injured when he drove off the road.

“As protocol, the individual was taken to a local hospital where a drug screen was conducted by the hospital,” Sollie explained. “He is no longer employed by the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.”

In the 2018, Newscenter 11 highlighted Walker in our First Responder series. He became a deputy in 2016 and has worked as an officer in Marion since 2017. He has also been a member of the military for years.

“I expressed my disappointment and he expressed his disappointment in himself. We have to hold ourselves to standards that the community expects and we expect our deputies to do so. We’ve had to do what we had to do and only wish him the best in the future,”

Marion police Chief Randall Davis says they are investigating the situation and that Walker has been suspended during that process.

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