Officer critical after wreck escorting fallen agent

A Grenada police officer is in critical condition after he was involved in an accident Saturday night escorting the motorcade for fallen Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent Lee Tartt.

Officer Kenny Engle, who has been a Grenada reserve officer since 2002, is at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the intensive care unit, Grenada Police Chief Garrett Hartley said Monday. A GoFundMe.com account has been set up by the Mississippi Law Enforcement Alliance for Peer Support and Tupelo's Wives of Warriors to help his family with medical expenses.

Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Cpl. Tony Dunn said at 10:24 p.m., Engle was stationed at I-55 Exit 206, blocking traffic for Tartt's motorcade on his police-issue Harley Davidson motorcycle. Dunn said after the procession had come through, Engle pulled into traffic and somehow hit the back of a stationary vehicle that was pulled off on the shoulder. He was  thrown from his motorcycle, Dunn said.

Engle, who was wearing his helmet at the time of the wreck, was airlifted to UMMC in Jackson. The driver of the vehicle was also transported to the University of Mississippi Medical Center's Grenada branch.

Engle has a full-time job at a local factory, Hartley said, and will obviously be out of work until he has recovered. His wife works at a local gas station and restaurant. She is staying with Engle at the hospital in Jackson at this point.

A Monday lunchtime update on Engle's GoFundMe page said, "Kenny is still sedated but has moved his left arm and leg as of this morning. The MRI showed no signs of spinal damage. Please keep praying."

It's part of a bloody week for Mississippi law enforcement, as Tartt was killed in a standoff that also left three Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers hospitalized. The suspect was killed in the standoff.

Last week, Clarksdale Cpl. Derrick Couch was shot in the face while attempting to apprehend an armed robbery suspect. Doctors had to remove an eye, and the bullet is still lodged in his brain. Two arrests were made connected to that crime.

"Please be in prayer, specifically for Officer Engle and his family, and of course still for Agent Lee Tartt and his family and friends," Hartley said, "but also for all the police officers and deputies and law enforcement, local and across the world."

You can donate to help Officer Engle's family with his medical expenses here.

Contact Therese Apel at tapel@gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 on Twitter.