Philadelphia Police Officer Killed in Line of Duty

PHILADELPHIA, Miss. (AP) – A 23-year-old Philadelphia police officer responding to a call for help from Neshoba County Sheriff’s deputies has died after her patrol car hit a light pole and flipped several times.

The Neshoba Democrat reports Officer Leann Simpson died as a result of the single-car wreck shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday.

Philadelphia Police Chief Grant Myers says sheriff’s deputies were on a traffic stop on Mississippi 16 and 911 communications could not make contact with them so she was responding to a call to check on them.

The cause of the wreck is under investigation but Myers says weather was a factor.

Myers says Simpson had been with the department for 15 months. He says she was an “outstanding young officer with a promising career.”