Lincoln deputy loses job after S.C. DUI arrest
by: Lisa Brown
(5/21/2010)
A Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy vacationing in South Carolina has lost his job here after being arrested last weekend on a drunken driving charge.
Jonathan Charles Connor, 25, of Lincolnton, was taken into custody Saturday in Myrtle Beach, S.C., according to the Horry County Clerk of Courts Office.
Connor has since been released from the J. Reuben Long Detention Center on a $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Horry County Central Traffic Court on June 14.
Lincoln County Sheriff’s Spokesman Rick Hensley announced Thursday that Connor is no longer employed with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office following an internal investigation into the DUI arrest.
Hensley, who had worked with Connor for about 14 months, described him as an “excellent police officer and (worked) hard at his profession.”
This isn’t the first time a local sheriff’s deputy has been accused of drunk driving in recent years.
Deputy Bruce White resigned in 2007 after driving his truck through a home on Buffalo Shoals Road. Troopers reported him as having blown a .18 on the Intoxilyzer. The legal limit in North Carolina is a .08.
White was rehired by the Sheriff’s Office in July 2008 and now works with the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) unit.
Earlier this year, newly sworn-in Deputy Bradley Morrow was taken into custody after an apparent drunk driving accident near Pumpkin Center.
Morrow, who identified himself as a deputy and as the son of Lt. Lynn Morrow, was involved in the single-car collision March 21 at the intersection of King Wilkinson Road and Amity Church Road, the Highway Patrol reported.
Although, Morrow told the 911 dispatchers that he “fell asleep at the wheel,” troopers say he allegedly blew a .21 on the Intoxilyzer.
Morrow, who was sworn in as a deputy just three days prior to his accident, was charged with driving while impaired and failing to stop at a stop sign.
He is scheduled to appear in Lincoln County District Court on June 15.
