James Beacher Brumley, age 48, was found dead on the night of Sunday, Nov. 2 in the Escambia County Jail. It appeared to be a suicide, but the county is awaiting the Medical Examiner’s determination.
Brumley was arrested five days earlier by the Pensacola Police. Inweekly obtained a copy of his arrest report.
Police responded at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28 to a call of a vehicle crash at West Belmont and Reus streets. A witness said he heard a crash in front of his home and saw Brumley behind the wheel of a truck that had hit a utility pole. Brumley got out of the vehicle and began running. The witness, Earnest Middleton, chased and caught him. Middleton held Brumley until the police arrived.
The officers said Brumley slurred his speech, made incoherent comments, had blood-shot eyes and smelled of alcohol. They found two empty Steel Reserve beer cans in the cab of his truck.
After a visit to Baptist Hospital for a cut near his eye, Brumley was arrested for DUI, leaving the scene of the crime with property damage and driving without a valid license.
The DUI arrest was the fourth time he had been arrested for driving under the influence – other arrests were 1987, 1996 and 2007. His driver’s license was cancelled indefinitely in July 2009 for failure to complete substance abuse treatment.
Read James Brumley arrest.