3 p.m. TUESDAY UPDATE:
An Arkansas police officer who was arrested on a DWI charge after a crash has resigned.
Officer Regan Whitworth submitted a letter of resignation around 9 a.m. Tuesday, the Greenwood Police Department said in a statement.
Whitworth was involved in a crash early Sunday in Lavaca, police said.
A court date is set Monday.
Whitworth had been on the force since 2011 and had been honored in the past for his performance in investigating cases involving drunken drivers.
EARLIER:
An Arkansas police officer who has been honored in the past for his performance in investigating cases involving drunken drivers has been suspended after he was arrested on a DWI charge, authorities said.
Officer Regan Whitworth, who has been on the force since 2011, was arrested early Sunday after a crash in Lavaca, the Greenwood Police Department said in a news release.
Officials there directed questions on the crash and arrest to Arkansas State Police. A spokesman for that agency said a report had not yet been turned in, and no additional details were available.
Online records show Whitworth was booked into the Sebastian County jail shortly before 5 a.m. and released a little more than an hour later.
The news release said Whitworth will remain suspended at least until an internal investigation is completed.
Whitworth was named the police department's Officer of the Year in 2015, and on two occasions prior to that won the agency's DWI Detection Award, according to information posted on its Facebook page. Whitworth "oversees all operations of the departments breath alcohol Intoximeter," according to the police department website.
