Macon deputy arrested, fired after being accused of hit-and-run, false reporting
A deputy from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office was arrested Thursday and fired after he allegedly fled from a crash scene and lied to investigators, according to the agency.
Manual Antonio Newton, 38, was employed as a patrol deputy, a role that often entails traffic and road enforcement.
Newton allegedly crashed a vehicle into the back end of a tractor-trailer just before 5 a.m. on Aug. 3. The tractor-trailer was parked on the side of an exit ramp on Interstate 475 near Zebulon Road, deputies said in a news release.
“It was reported that the driver of the vehicle exited the car and fled the accident on foot,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies reviewed the vehicle information and found that Newton owned it.
Deputies later responded to his home, and Newton allegedly told them he was not driving the vehicle, and “his vehicle had recently been reported stolen from Monroe County,” a news release said.
At that time, deputies identified him as a patrol deputy who was on leave due to an on-duty injury.
Investigators contacted him again and notified him of their findings Thursday.
Then he allegedly admitted his previous account of what happened was inaccurate.
“Newton then advised investigators that he was in fact the driver of the vehicle on the date of the accident,” deputies said.
He was arrested and charged with hit-and-run, and false report of a crime.
Newton was taken to the Bibb County Jail, then released on a $2,600 bond, Capt. Linda Howard said.
His employment was “terminated today at the conclusion of the investigation,” Howard said Thursday afternoon.
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 3:39 PM.
