# Officer Douglas Bailey Vanderbilt TN



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Tennessee Officer Dies on Way to Work*











49-year-old Douglas Bailey died shortly after the wreck just before midnight. He had been with the Vanderbilt Police Department for only three years.

*DORINDA CARTER*
_Courtesy of WKRN TV_

A Vanderbilt police officer on his way in to work on Wednesday night was killed as his truck skid across a rain-slick road. The black truck came to rest against a tree and was nearly split in half.

"He lost control of his pickup truck as he was westbound, negotiating the curve of the I-440 ramp," said Metro Police Sgt. Jeff Keeter. "He left the left side of the roadway and impacted a tree."

49-year-old Douglas Bailey died shortly after the wreck just before midnight. He had been with the Vanderbilt Police Department for only three years.

"We feel for them right now, having lost a brother officer," said Keeter.

Fellow officers rushed to the emergency room where Officer Bailey was treated but was eventually pronounced dead. Bailey spent the last two years working in the ER. The department says he was a model for new officers that came in.

"He's an excellent officer, has an extraordinary personality, well-liked by his coworkers in the ER at the hospital," said Vanderbilt Police Chief Allan Guyet.

Metro Police investigators were checking to see if speed may have played a role in the crash.

"That's what we would be looking at," said Keeter. "The seat belt was used, but there was such an intrusion into the body compartment of the vehicle. Due to the weather, the rain, the muddy grass, he had very little effect in his breaking and had a violent impact with the tree."

Bailey was wearing his department uniform and was on his way to work. Police say he was headed in earlier than usual to attend a christmas party.

Officer Douglas Bailey is survived by his wife Carol and his parents. He was 49 years old. Funeral arrangments are not complete.


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