Deputy Arrested on Drug Charges

0:00It's April 9th. I'm Corey with The Story. This is Birmingham News Today, driven by AI. A Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy named Joshua David Nichols, a 34-year-old from Bessemer, just got hit with drug charges. He's spacing possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia after an arrest over the weekend. It all went down following a traffic crash on Friday, April 3rd, on Patton Chapel Road in Hoover. Officers showed up to check out the accident and spotted something suspicious with Nichols behind the wheel. Police say they found a glass pipe with burn marks and a baggy holding what looked like methamphetamine crystals. That led straight to his arrest at the Hoover City Jail before transferring him to Jefferson County Jail once warrants came through. The Sheriff's Office put him on administrative leave right away, pending their own internal probe. He's no longer in custody and folks are watching closely for what comes next. This case shines a light on accountability in law enforcement and will stay tuned as more details drop.