A Tennessee police officer found himself in a Mexican jail after Cancun authorities reportedly found a pistol in his luggage. Fox News reports that Lemandries Hawes, an officer with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, was arrested at the Cancun airport on July 9. His department said Hawes declared the personally owned firearm with the airline, but Mexican law still prohibits bringing guns into the country.
Hawes was scheduled for a hearing this week.
Officer Hawes just graduated from the police academy. prior to joining the Nashville Police Department, Hawes has more than five years of experience working with Tennessee law enforcement.
A number of Americans have been detained in Mexico on gun charges in recent years. Last October, Ira Beavers, from Arizona, was sentenced to nearly three years after he and his family drove into Mexico with a gun in their car, that he said he forgot to remove.
In early 2021, Arizona teacher Kayria Rosales spent nearly seven weeks in a Mexican jail for the same offense.
