Henderson police say Rusk County Airport Manager David Dumas slammed his his Ford F-150 pickup through this home’s kitchen Thursday in the 500 block of West Main Street in Henderson. Rusk County Judge Joel Hale said Monday that Dumas had been fired.
Henderson police say Rusk County Airport Manager David Dumas slammed his Ford F-150 pickup through a home in the 500 block of West Main Street in Henderson.
David Dumas
HENDERSON — Rusk County commissioners are searching for a new airport manager after they fired David Dumas this past week.
Dumas was on administrative leave Thursday when, police said, he crashed his pickup into a home Thursday afternoon, netting him a DWI arrest — his second in as many weeks.
Hours after being placed on administrative leave he was fired, said Rusk County Judge Joel Hale.
Police say Dumas, 49, of Henderson was booked into the Rusk County Jail on Thursday afternoon after he pulled out of a business about 1 p.m. in the 500 block of West Main Street. They said he apparently accelerated, ramming his red Ford F-150 into a home.
“We got a call about somebody had run a car into a house. It was characterized as being embedded into the house,” said Lt. Craig Sweeney of the Henderson Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division, noting that the investigation is ongoing and police have not nailed down exactly what happened.
“(Dumas) was looking for a particular business that wasn’t there anymore. When he left that property, it’s possible instead of using the brake he hit the accelerator instead, which caused him to jump and run into the house.”
Sweeney would not comment on what led police to arrest Dumas for driving while intoxicated, but said Dumas was taken to the hospital before he was booked into jail.
Tiffany Dixon, a neighbor home at the time of the wreck, said she couldn’t believe what she saw when she walked out of her house.
“I was taking a bath and heard a loud noise,” she said.
At first, Dixon said, she thought a vehicle hit one of the green recycling bins out by the curb. But when she came outside she saw a red pickup truck buried in the side of the house.
Earlier, she said, she had noticed a red truck in a parking lot across the street.
Dumas’ truck ended up crossing Main Street just past Downtown Henderson, where it drove into Dixon’s yard, ploughed through a fence and jumped off a two-foot tall concrete wall before coming to rest inside the home.
“The truck was sitting halfway in and halfway out of the house,” Dixon said. “We were just outside before it happened. We’re lucky we weren’t outside when he came through here,” she said, pointing out the route the truck took through the yard.
The home, a wood frame structure, suffered damage to a kitchen on the kitchen located at the home’s back, right side.
A man inside the home, Sweeney said, suffered minor injuries to his head and feet. The unidentified man was in the kitchen cooking when Dumas slammed into the house.
Dumas had been placed on administrative leave about three hours prior to the wreck, Hale said.
The judge would not comment on what led to Dumas being place on leave, but he said the county’s decision was not related to Dumas’ previous DWI arrest in Kilgore two weeks earlier.
Hale added the county had no problems with Dumas’ job performance prior to that arrest.
Dumas had worked as the airport manager for two years, Hale said, and never held any previous positions with the county.
The county is moving forward to find his replacement, Hale said, adding the job has been posted on the county’s website.
“We expect to move on this fairly rapidly,” he said.
Billy Alexander, a groundskeeper at the airport, has been tapped to fill Dumas’ shoes until the county fills the position.
Hale said Alexander has the knowledge to run the airport in the meantime and will be taking direction from Rusk County Pct. 4 Commissioner Harold Howell, county auditor Ron Moody and Hale himself.
Source: http://www.news-journal.com
http://www.ruskcountyairport.com
The Rusk County airport director was fired after county officials learned he crashed his pickup into a home, netting him a DWI arrest — his second in as many weeks.
Police say David Dumas, 49, of Henderson was booked into the Rusk County Jail Thursday afternoon after he pulled out of a business in the 500 block of West Main Street and apparently hit the accelerator instead of the brake.
Dumas had been the airport manager for two years.
“We got a call about somebody running a car into a house. It was characterized as being embedded into the house,” said Lt. Craig Sweeney of the Henderson Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.
Dumas had been on administrative leave for about three hours when he ran his truck into the house and was terminated that day, according to Rusk County Judge Joel Hale.
Hale said Dumas' leave was not related to his first DWI and that the county had had no problems with Dumas as an employee prior to his first DWI.
Billy Alexander, who has been a groundskeeper at the airport, will fill the role of airport manager until the county finds a replacement. Alexander will act as airport manager under the direction of Pct. 4 county commissioner Harold Howell, Hale and the county auditor Ron Moody.
