Knoxville — A former Tennessee Vol who became a Knoxville police officer has pleaded guilty to reckless driving in an in incident earlier this year.
Raiques Crump faces six months of unsupervised probation. By agreement, the judge dismissed the charges of evading arrest and speeding.
Crump resigned from the police force in September after a grand jury indicted him for driving 110 miles an hour to evade a state trooper on May 31. He was using a personal vehicle at the time of the incident.
According to the three-county indictment, the former Tennessee linebacker was accused of fleeing from Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Howard Greenlee. The posted speed limit was 55 mph.
His driving constituted a "willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property", the indictment stated.
Crump was originally placed on administrative leave pending a KPD internal affairs investigation before resigning in September.
Crump also faced a separate speeding charge from an incident that allegedly occurred July 30, 2018, records show. In that incident a THP trooper ticketed him for driving 91 mph in a 55-mph zone on Interstate 40, according to the ticket.
Crump, a native of Birmingham, Ala., played for the Vols from 2010-13.
During his senior year he was a reserve linebacker and "special team demon" for the Vols.
In 2014, Crump returned to a Vol training camp after joining the Police Department. He said he'd always wanted to be a police officer and had enjoyed learning about KPD during a "Training Day" as a Vol.
His favorite part about the Police Department during that training day, he said, was "the driving, which is probably everybody's favorite part.
"Yeah, it was pretty fun to drive fast and everything," he said.
Recruited in 2013
Crump worked as a school resource officer for KPD as recently as this year, records show.
HIs personnel record shows he was recruited to work at the department in 2013. After going through the police academy, he achieved Civil Service Merit Board certification in July 2014 and began a one-year probationary period.
A summer 2014 evaluation found him to be "proficient" with an average of 3 on a scale of 1 to 5 in overall job skills such as customer service and interpersonal relationships. By May 2015, he'd raised the average to 3.3 and it continued to rise.
Crump finished his civil service police officer probation period in July 2015, records show.
Records show Crump had secured his bachelor's in psychology from the University of Tennessee by January 2016, earning him a shot at a pay bump.
In his summer 2016 evaluation, supervisors noted under the optional comments section his time as a UT football player. His experience was an asset to KPD, according to the evaluation.
"As a former athlete, I would like to see Officer Crump utilize the experience he obtained on those teams to help foster a greater sense of teamwork on the squad," the evaluation states. "He had a tendency to work by himself much of the time and not become involved with his beat partners. Officer Crump has knowledge and abilities that would be beneficial to all members of the squad."
The review noted he'd expressed interest in becoming a K-9 handler and a driving instructor.
While his overall evaluation score reached 3.7 by summer 2016, dipped to 3.3 in summer 2017 and then rose to 3.8, records show.
In his May 2018 evaluation, a supervisor noted: "Officer Crump does an excellent job in his duties as a (school resource officer). He interacts very well with the students at his school. He is very knowledgeable about what his duties are and continues to learn on how to become better. Officer Crump does need to work on his communication with those who he works with. We have had this discussion and he is improving."