Deputy crashes patrol car while responding to call
McNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. — Responding to a call on Highway 45 in Selmer, a deputy caused an emergency of his own Tuesday night when he swerved off the road and crashed. “One of our deputies had been responding to a suspicious person call about 20 miles across from where he was, and right after he got the call, he called into dispatch and said that he had been involved in an accident and he was hurt,” Sheriff Guy Buck said. Buck said Deputy Rick Finley suffered serious but superficial injuries to his head when he ran off the rain-slick road, slid through the grass and slammed into and split an electric pole. According to the McNairy County Sheriff’s Department, they may never know what caused Finley to run off the road. There is no dash-camera video of the incident, and Buck said Finley’s memory of the crash is still a blur. “As he’s been able to talk about it now, he seems to remember a vehicle that either pulled from a side road or ended up in his path of travel, but honestly, he took a good lick to the head, and we may not ever know what happened in the accident,” Buck said. Buck said the department is lucky Finley’s injuries were not more serious “We’ve had 82 law enforcement deaths in the United States — 18 of those have been from traffic accidents,” Buck said. “We’re just very fortunate we didn’t add a number to that.” Finley has been with the sheriff’s department for a year and a half and is expected to make a full recovery.
