The body of a Tennessee deputy, who disappeared after making an arrest, has been recovered after his patrol car was found underwater.
The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Workplace (HCSO) in Tennessee confirmed in a Facebook submit that the physique of 35-year-old Deputy Robert “R.J.” Leonard had been found on Thursday evening.
“His stays are at the moment being escorted to the Knoxville Regional Medical Examiner’s Workplace by motor models with the HCSO, Tennessee Freeway Patrol, and the Chattanooga Police Division,” police stated.
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The police cruiser was found in the Hiwassee River in Tennessee. (U.S. Forest Service)
Leonard, a rookie on the force, responded to a report of a man and woman fighting on a bridge shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday and took the woman into custody, according to Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson.
Authorities began searching for the deputy after he failed to respond to a status check.
Johnson said that one of Leonard’s last communications was a text to his wife that said, “Arrest.”
“His spouse texted again and stated, ‘That is good’ or ‘That is nice,'” Johnson reported during a press briefing. “We all know that his telephone didn’t, evidently, obtain that textual content.”
Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson at a press briefing on Thursday, Feb. 15. (Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office)
Early Thursday, authorities made the alarming discovery of Leonard’s patrol vehicle upside down in the Hiwassee River.
Police found the body of the woman in the backseat of the patrol vehicle. Police believe that the body belongs to the arrestee.
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Multiple agencies are investigating how the vehicle ended up in the water.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Johnson said that they believe that this was an accident.
Johnson said that a preliminary report noted that the deputy appeared to be texting and radioing while driving in a poorly lit area.
“We’re working beneath the idea that it was an accident — he missed his flip, he wasn’t acquainted, and he was doing different issues that will have prompted him to enter the water,” Johnson stated on the press briefing.
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Officials said that the 35-year-old deputy lived close by together with his spouse and three youngsters.
“Deputy Leonard had been on the drive about two months,” Meigs County Sheriff Jackie Melton said. “He was doing a reasonably good job. A very good job. It is simply exhausting when the division is sort of a household.”
