A U.S. Postal Service mail carrier in Forsyth County has been arrested on several charges including DUI, following reports of hitting another vehicle and driving erratically while on duty. The carrier, identified as 55-year-old Darrell Cox, was taken into custody after a series of events that began with a collision and ended with a traffic stop by county deputies, as detailed by both FOX 5 Atlanta and WSB-TV News.
The initial incident occurred Monday evening when a woman exiting a store on Matt Highway contacted authorities to report her SUV had been struck by Cox's mail truck; Cox allegedly left the scene without engaging further with the victim, the commencement of a chain of events reflective of compromised judgment perceived in his public duties, this according to the account by WSB-TV News. The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office received additional calls about the erratic movement of a mail truck along Oak Grove Circle and Hubert Martin Road, with one witness providing the vehicle's identification number to authorities.
Officers subsequently located the mail truck after observing it speed and drive irregularly along Dahlonega Highway, initiating a traffic stop that led to the discovery of an open container within the vehicle. "He did have an open container inside the vehicle, and they were able to determine he was drinking while delivering mail on his route," Forsyth County Deputy Brittany Rivera elucidated in a statement, Cox's alleged transgressions surfacing under the scrutiny of legal authority as reported by FOX 5 Atlanta.
An analysis of both the mail truck and the victim’s vehicle confirmed that the damage matched the earlier hit-and-run incident, further implicating Jerome "Jerry" Cox in the crime spree that occurred during his postal rounds. Forsyth County officials later confirmed that Cox was impaired at the time of these offenses, reinforcing the DUI charge amid the troubling events of the day. These findings were reported by WSB-TV News. In addition to the DUI charge, Cox is also facing charges for having an open container and hit-and-run, enveloping him in a web of legal ramifications that stands in stark contrast to the service and trust emblematic of his profession.
