From NewsChannel 9: Tennessee Highway Patrol has retrieved recording devices from a deputy's vehicle that went into the river last week, according
From NewsChannel 9: Tennessee Highway Patrol has retrieved recording devices from a deputy’s vehicle that went into the river last week, according to Meigs County District Attorney Russell Johnson.
That incident killed both the deputy, and a woman in the backseat who he had arrested.
The DA says this may reveal more how the deputy ended up driving into the river.
Deputy RJ Leonard arrested Tabitha Smith late at night last week.
On his way back to the jail, Leonard ended up driving off of a boat ramp and into the Tennessee River.
The bodies of Leonard and Smith were recovered from the river on Thursday last week.
Friday DA Johnson told us a THP sergeant with the critical incident response team has pulled the digital recording devices from the ECM or engine control module.
An ECM is a device that controls multiple systems of an internal combustion engine in a single unit.
Johnson says the ECM should give information about speed and braking.
Because the vehicle’s airbags did not deploy, Johnson says they’re not sure how much they can get from the airbag module.
The car was totally submerged, so Johnson says THP is trying to explore options to get the two devices dried out in hopes of recovering any useful information.
It is not clear yet if any information will be available.
“I am having my office investigators reconstruct a timeline from the 911 call that resulted in the deputies response, the radio calls from the deputy as he arrived on scene, as he radioed that he had a suspect in custody, and the other radio transmission that we heard relative to the word ‘water,'” Johnson says.
Johnson says they have put together information on the text message from him to his wife and his wife’s response.
“We’re trying to get all that together to establish the timeline. We are asking THP to analyze the phone that was found in Deputy Leonard’s vest when his body was recovered. There is the same issue with potential water damage with anything that might be recovered from the phone,” Johnson says.
He adds that Leonard’s text transmission to his wife may have been delivered at a different time than when it was actually received.
“The final report from my standpoint will not be complete until THP has finished all of their work and submitted a report for my review,” Johnson says.
