A man accused of shooting a Coldwater police officer during a traffic stop in 2020 will spend the next several years in prison.
Documents from Tate County Circuit Court show Byron Eugene Rodgers, 25, of Coldwater was sentenced to 20 years in Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) and 10 years post-release supervision after pleading guilty to aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer.
According to a report from Coldwater Police Department, Rodgers was arrested and charged Jan. 25, 2020, following a routine traffic stop near the intersection of Highway 51 and 306 in Coldwater at approximately 10 a.m.
The report said a police officer stopped a vehicle and was gathering information from the people inside when Rodgers, who was driving a green pickup truck, pulled over and parked in front of the vehicle.
Rodgers got out of the truck and approached the scene with a knife in his hand when the police officer ordered him to “stop” and “drop the weapon”, according to the report.
Rodgers returned to the truck and retrieved a shotgun before opening fire on the police officer. The officer returned fire hitting Rodgers twice, the report stated. Rodgers got back into his truck, drove three or four hundred yards, and went off the side of the road where he was apprehended by Coldwater police.
Rodgers was transported from the scene to Regional One Health Medical Center in Memphis. After his release from the hospital, Rodgers was held at the Tate County Jail under a $100,000 bond. He was indicted by the Tate County Grand Jury in July 2020.
The police officer, whose name was not released by authorities, was struck in the head during the exchange of gunfire and was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in DeSoto County where he was treated for injuries, according to the report. The officer returned to active duty a few days later.
The people inside the vehicle involved in the initial traffic stop were not harmed during the incident, according to officials. Investigators said they had no connection to the suspect or the shooting.
