Deputy accused of crashing patrol car while drunk

A Jefferson Parish sheriff's deputy has resigned after allegedly crashing his patrol car while drunk.

Col. John Fortunato, a department spokesman, tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/OmyXsI) that 27-year-old Christopher Hyer resigned July 12.

He says Hyer had been suspended immediately after he was booked July 9 with driving while intoxicated and improper control of a vehicle. Fortunato says that after people called to report that a marked patrol car had hit a tree, deputies went to the hospital where the driver had been taken and found that he was intoxicated.

Fortunato says Hyer was off-duty when the accident occurred.

Hyer could not be reached for comment. There was no immediate response to a call to the only phone listing for someone with that name in Jefferson Parish.