A Gwinnett County sheriff’s deputy who was allegedly driving drunk when he rolled his patrol car early Wednesday has resigned.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, the sheriff’s vehicle ran off Ga. 81 at Double Springs Road around 1:20 a.m., struck an embankment and overturned several times.
No one was around the vehicle when first responders arrived, but the driver, Gwinnett sheriff’s Deputy Robert Christopher Matt, was later located at his residence, and a female passenger was found walking near the crash scene, a GSP spokesman said in an e-mail.
Matt, 27, of Bethlehem, sustained cuts, scrapes, bumps and bruises, and was taken to the Walton County Jail, charged with driving under the influence, leaving the scene of an accident, failing to maintain lane and having an open container of alcohol.
Matt’s passenger, 27-year-old Katie Lynn of Lawrenceville, was taken by ambulance to Gwinnett Medical Center for treatment of injuries.
Matt, who had been employed by the sheriff’s office since November, 2008, submitted his resignation Wednesday morning, according to a press release from Gwinnett Sheriff Butch Conway. Matt was not on duty at the time of the crash.
The sheriff said in the release that he was “highly disappointed in the actions of Deputy Matt, who until this incident had a good work record with several commendations that included the Life Saving Award for his quick action in saving an inmate’s life who attempted suicide.”
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