Canadian County deputy fired over DUI arrest
PIEDMONT — On Friday evening, a Chevy Tahoe careened through a Canadian County subdivision, ramming brick mailboxes and plowing through culverts before crashing through a fence.
On the side of the SUV was the seal of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office. At the wheel was Cameron Henderson, a 26-year-old sheriff’s deputy. When police arrived, they found Henderson standing at the back door of a stranger’s home, trying to get in, police said.
His blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit, police said.
Henderson was off duty Friday night when he wrecked a sheriff’s sport utility vehicle and caused damage in Piedmont housing additions, said Canadian County Sheriff Chris West. Police said his blood-alcohol content was 0.24 percent. Henderson was fired Monday.
Piedmont police Chief Scott Singer said a caller reported a sheriff’s SUV being driven erratically andcausing damage in the Skyline addition near NW 164 and Cemetery Road. Henderson crashed into a fence in the Olde Town addition in the 1000 block of Olde Town Drive near his home, Singer said.
“He created a swath of damage,” Singer said.
Brenna Battiato, who lives on Olde Town Drive, called 911 and told dispatchers she’d heard a loud crash into her fence. As she spoke with a dispatcher, she began screaming that a man was trying to get in her back door.
“My husband is armed and he is trying to open the front door!” Battiato said to the dispatcher. “It looks like he is intoxicated or something.” An officer arrived and Battiato hung up with the dispatcher.
Singer said Henderson was armed with his personal handgun, which was in his pocket when he was arrested. The first Piedmont officer to arrive held Henderson at gunpoint until another officer arrived, Singer said. Henderson then was taken into custody peacefully.
After the crash, Piedmont police arrested Henderson on complaints of driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of a firearm and damage to private property as well as several traffic violations. Police took Henderson to the Yukon city jail to avoid booking him at the Canadian County jail as a security measure because Henderson had been a detention officer at the jail in the past.
“Even though this was a law enforcement officer who is known in the community, it didn’t matter. We handled him in the same manner we would with anyone else,” Singer said.
Henderson was hired as a Canadian County jail detention officer in February 2015. He became a juvenile justice investigator in February and then took a full-time deputy position in September, West said.
Friday after the arrest, Henderson was placed on leave and he turned over his badge and gun, West said.
West said deputies are allowed to drive their patrol vehicles from work to home when off duty.