STARKVILLE — A probationary police officer is no longer employed with the city after being arrested for driving under the influence while off-duty Sunday morning on Mississippi State University’s campus.
Starkville Human Resources Director Navarette Ashford confirmed in an email Monday afternoon that the officer is no longer employed.
He released no other details, including the officer’s identity, citing it as a personnel matter. However, The Dispatch confirmed the identity of the probationary officer through other sources.
Quinton Carter, 26, of Crawford, was arrested by MSU police at 3:19 a.m. for a DUI-first offense, a misdemeanor, according to Oktibbeha County Jail records. It is the only DUI stop listed for MSUPD on the arrest log for that day.
Carter was driving on Stone Boulevard when he was stopped, MSU Police Chief Kenneth Rogers told The Dispatch.
On Monday morning, an SPD press release noted the off-duty probationary officer’s arrest. Public Information Officer Brandon Lovelady later confirmed to The Dispatch that Carter was employed with the department at the time of the stop.
“We hold our officers to the highest standards of professionalism and ethical conduct and any violation of these standards is taken very seriously,” Lovelady wrote in the email. “We have opened an internal investigation and the findings will be forwarded to the City of Starkville Board of Aldermen.”
Lovelady said a probationary officer has not completed all required initial training to be released to solo patrol, including field training and graduating from the police academy.
Carter was released from jail after posting a bond of $839.
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