A police officer who has been honored for his performance in investigating cases involving drunken drivers has been suspended after he was arrested on a DWI charge, authorities said.
Greenwood police 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 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 before that won the agency's DWI Detection Award, according to information posted on its Facebook page.
Whitworth "oversees all operations of the department's breath alcohol Intoximeter," according to the Police Department website.
State Desk on 08/30/2017