Deputy looks for crash, finds his own

Deputy Clayton J. Philpott, 26, Peabody, was looking for a wreck July 17, when he wrecked his 2018 Dodge Durango cruiser instead.

Philpott was dispatched to an accident in which a pickup had hit a cow, reportedly blocking Nighthawk. The accident actually was on 160th Rd. half a mile east of Nighthawk.

He apparently was in a hurry to find the wreck on the heavily traveled road. He already had driven past where the pickup was reported to have hit the cow, then turned around and went back. Hillsboro officer David Funk, who investigated the accident, wrote that Philpott was driving 70 mph on the 55 mph road when three deer ran out of a ditch. Philpott hit the first of the three.

The struck deer spun around and hit the passenger side of Philpott’s patrol car. All three passenger air bags deployed, but Philpott was uninjured. His Durango patrol car remained drivable with damage to its left, front, hood, and undercarriage.