A Hamilton County sheriff's deputy serving a warrant accidentally shot a Chattanooga man suspected of growing marijuana Wednesday afternoon, Sheriff Jim Hammond said.
The deputy, whom the department hadn't named late Wednesday, was walking inside an apartment on East Brainerd Road when he tripped, firing his gun at his side, Hammond said.
The bullet passed through the left calf of Cecil Vance, 22, who was sought on drug charges, Hammond said. Vance was taken to Erlanger hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.
The deputy was placed on administrative leave and the sheriff's office Internal Affairs Division will investigate the shooting, Hammond said.
"They will look to see why it happened and whether or not all standard procedures were followed," he said.
Inside the apartment, deputies found marijuana, drug paraphernalia and items used to manufacture marijuana, said the sheriff's spokeswoman Janice Atkinson.
Vance and 19-year-old Samantha Cronin were charged with felony possession of drug paraphernalia, manufacturing marijuana and simple possession of marijuana, she said.
Across town, another sheriff's deputy was taken to Erlanger hospital Wednesday when his car was rear-ended, Atkinson said.
The deputy was on Hixson Pike working an accident when another car rear-ended the deputy's, she said. The deputy was taken to the hospital with complaints of back and neck injuries.
The last time deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office shot a suspect was in 2007, newspaper archives show.
Deputies Eston Pyle, Nathan Sampley and Denise Short shot and killed Thomas Jones who was a car-theft suspect and was running from police, according to the archives.
He was shot multiple times when he got out of the car and lunged at one of the deputies with a knife, according to the archives.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation cleared all three deputies and a jury last January cleared them in a civil wrongful death case in federal court.