Slayton Indicted by Grand Jury In Connection to Officer’s Death

By Debbie Gregory

A Macon County man has been charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence in a sealed indictment returned by the Macon County Grand Jury on Monday, October 2, in connection to the death of Sgt. William Cherry.

The sealed indictment was served the same day, and 24-year-old Devin L. Slayton was arrested and is being held without bond in another county. 

As previously reported in the Macon County Chronicle, Sgt. William Cherry, of the Macon County Sheriff’s Department, was killed in a two-vehicle crash while on routine patrol early Saturday morning, July 29, 2023, at approximately 12:30 a.m.

According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Devln Slayton, of Macon County, was driving north on Hwy. 10 North (Scottsville Road) in a 2013 Ford F150, when he crossed the center line and struck Sgt. Cherry’s patrol vehicle in the southbound lane. Slayton was airlifted for treatment and Sgt. Cherry was deceased at the scene.

Count 1 of the indictment states that Devin Lynn Slayton did “unlawfully and recklessly kill William Cherry by the operation of an automobile, the killing of William Cherry being the proximate result of the intoxication of Devin Lynn Slayton.”

Count 2 of the indictment states that Devin Lynn Slayton did “unlawfully drive or was in physical control of an automobile or other motor driven vehicle on a public vehicular area as set forth by the statute, to -wit: Highway 10, in Macon County, Tennessee, at a time the alcohol concentration in his blood or breath was eight-hundredths of one percent (.08%) or more.”

Slayton is scheduled to appear in court on October 20, 2023.