Deputy runs over dead body at wreck
Staff writer
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy ran over a body at an accident July 12 on US-77, and has left the county’s employ.
However, Caleb Tomlinson’s departure from the sheriff’s department was “because of other issues,” Undersheriff Larry Starkey said Tuesday.
“There were other things that factored into it,” Starkey said. “He just wasn’t working out for us.”
Starkey said Tomlinson didn’t make any secret about running over the body.
“We knew about it as soon as it happened,” he said. “He didn’t try to hide anything.”
Starkey said he could understand how it could have happened, and that he was sure the motorcycle rider was already dead when Tomlinson ran over his body.
“It was dark and there were no lights,” Starkey said. “He was looking for cars along the roadway. The car was in the ditch on one side, and the motorcycle was in the ditch on the other side.”
Tomlinson failed to see the body because the motorcycle rider, Justin B. Williamson, 22, Weiser, Idaho, was dressed all in black, he said.
Williamson had been attempting to pass another vehicle when his motorcycle collided head-on with a southbound 2019 Toyota Camry driven by Tina Ho, 19, Wichita. Ho declined to be taken to a hospital.
No accident report was written for Tomlinson running over Williamson’s body, Starkey said. Kansas Highway Patrol wrote an accident report for the Williamson and Ho collision.
“Tomlinson wasn’t being careless,” Starkey added.
According to Williamson’s obituary, he was a foster child from age 9 months until he was adopted three years later by his foster parents, Keith and Kathy Williamson.
He served in the Army and married Meah Williamson in 2023.
Their daughter, Naomi, was born in March, 2024, and the couple were expecting another child in January.