A traffic stop in Ohatchee, Alabama, turned fatal in the early morning hours when a deputy stopped a vehicle on Grayton Road South at about 3:32 a.m. The deputy discovered a significant quantity of methamphetamine and a pistol inside the car and arrested both occupants: Brittany Nicole Yoder of Anniston and the male driver, Timothy Alan Wood of Wilsonville, on trafficking and prohibited-possession charges.

While the vehicle waited for a wrecker, Yoder was placed in the back of the patrol car and later asked the deputy for help. When the deputy opened the door to check on her, Yoder emerged pointing a pistol at the deputy’s head. The deputy deflected the firearm and fired, fatally striking Yoder at the scene. Body-worn camera footage reportedly captured the encounter and investigators say Yoder had slipped one of her handcuffs and gained control of the pistol; the weapon’s magazine held live rounds but a round was not chambered when she pulled the trigger. The deputy was not injured and the Oxford Police Department and Jacksonville State University’s Center for Applied Forensics were assigned an independent investigation.

If anyone witnessed the stop or has information about events leading up to it, please share what is known.