DESOTO DEPUTY FIRED AFTER REFUSING TO TAKE DRUG TEST

SOUTHAVEN, Miss.- DeSoto County authorities say a deputy sheriff who said
he was stabbed during an attack outside his home has been fired for failure
to submit to a drug test.

Cmdr. Mark Blackson said the action was taken Wednesday after officer Mike
Thomas refused to obey an order to submit to the test.

Blackson said the case has been turned over to the agency's internal
affairs department.

Thomas told investigators a man wearing dark clothes and a ski mask
attacked him June 11 when he went outside to lock a car.

During the struggle, Thomas said he was stabbed with a syringe and another
object. He suffered what officers called a superficial cut to his upper
left arm.

Investigators said a urinalysis after the incident found evidence of
cocaine and two prescription drugs, Lortab and Xanax, in the deputy's
system. Thomas said the cocaine was from the syringe.

Blackson said Thomas had prescriptions for the other two drugs - a
painkiller and an anti-anxiety medication.

Investigators sent the syringe to the state crime laboratory for analysis,
but no report on the tests was immediately available.