Orange Beach resident arrested in death of Mt. Vernon cop

O.B. resident arrested in death of Mt. Vernon cop

Orange Beach resident Tyler Lee Henderson, 31, has been arrested for murder following a traffic accident that killed a Mount Vernon Police Officer Ivan Lopez (pictured) on Hwy. 59 at the intersection of County Rd. 36 on Aug. 22. Henderson’s pickup truck ran the stop sign at the Hwy. 59 intersection at “an excessive speed” and the truck struck Lopez’s police cruiser at around 7 p.m. Lopez had 20 years of police service. Henderson’s truck did not have the interlock device that he was required to have installed in his car because of past DUI convictions, according to Summedale Police. He was arrested in 2019 for DUI in Orange Beach. “A gray 2017 GMC truck was traveling west on County Road 36 at an excessive rate of speed,” said Summerdale Police Chief Kevin Brock. “Officer Lopez was traveling south on Highway 59 in the outside lane. The truck approached the stop sign at Highway 59 and never slowed down. He crossed four lanes of traffic and made contact with Lopez and caused what can only be described as an explosion. We believe officer Lopez was killed upon impact.” “We are grieving,” said Mt. Vernon Police Chief Duncan Harrington. “We are going to grieve and we also have 1,500 other citizens we have to take care of and so we’ll do our job and grieve together.” According to Harrington, Officer Lopez was beloved in Mt. Vernon and was driving to his Foley home at the end of his shift at the time of the crash. “He was a smiling face to the community, whether it was attending a funeral, or taking someone to the grocery store who couldn’t get there themselves, or feeding stray animals, or tending to anything or anyone,” Harrington said. Officer Lopez had served Mount Vernon for 12 years. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.