State and local authorities on Wednesday released only a few details about the death of the man who allegedly tried to run over Marion County sheriff’s deputies with his pickup truck Tuesday night, causing them to fire on him.
The deputies were responding to complaints from two Whiteside, Tenn., residents about someone who was “drunk and disorderly,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Susan Niland said via email.
“Early Tuesday evening that individual called making threats to law enforcement officers,” Niland said.
“When deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department responded, that individual drove toward them in a vehicle at a high rate of speed,” she said. “The deputies fired at the vehicle. The subject continued at a high rate of speed and crashed.”
Niland identified the man as William John Berner, 59, of Whiteside. He was pronounced dead at the scene, she said.