Deputy Arrests Sheriff's Son for DUI
By Matt McClain
PADUCAH, KY - An unusual arrest has placed McCracken County's Sheriff into the spotlight, but it's not because he himself did anything wrong. Sheriff Jon Hayden used the McCracken County Sheriff's Office Facebook Page to announce that his son, 26-year-old Jonathan S. Hayden, had been arrested Sunday night by a McCracken County Deputy and charged with DUI. Hayden said the following:
"Last night my son who is in his 20's was charged with DUI by one of my deputies. When I received a telephone call about him being stopped, I told the deputies to treat this situation no differently than any other situation involving anyone else. The deputy did his job, just as the oath he took ordered him to do.
My son is human just like all of us and he made a bad decision. I love my son, he is a good man, and he made a mistake. He will suffer the same consequences as anyone else would that finds themselves in this same situation.
I am posting this for a couple of reasons. I have already been criticized for not putting out a press release about this, and secondly, to let people know that no one is above the law. When you are an elected official, your personal life and that of your family are no longer private. Is that right or wrong? I don't know but I understand that is just the way it is.
Press releases about routine DUI charges have not ever been sent out on anyone by our department. My feeling is that he should not be treated any differently just because of the profession that his father chose. But, here it is for all to see.
We have many Facebook followers and I and others at the department are proud of the relationship that we have established with the folks that we serve on a day to day basis."
Generally speaking, arrests solely for DUI are not published as individual news stories here at West Kentucky Star...not because law enforcement officers don't openly make them easily available to us, but because there are simply too many to report on with regularity. As Hayden himself puts it, however, "personal lives are no longer private for elected officials and their family members". It's in that same reasoning that we are opting to publish this one, and yet leave the others alone.
One thing would seem certain for the younger Hayden. While he may certainly have his father's love, he isn't going to receive any special treatment as he walks down a road full of legal lessons that so many others have gone down. His just might be a little more publicized.