Three Watauga County Sheriff's deputies are entering their third month of suspension without pay as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations continues to look into a Thanksgiving Day incident. 

The deputies, who have not been identified pending the investigation, were suspended in early December when Tennessee district attorney general Tony Clark requested a TBI investigation into the events leading to the apprehension of a man following a vehicle chase. 

Clark said the investigation request to the TBI was made in response to an allegation of excessive force.

"We always call in the TBI in this type of situation, where an allegation is made against an officer," Clark said. "Even if it had been only Tennessee officers, the investigation is not handled at the county level."

Members of the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Greenville, Tenn., are working in conjunction with the TBI in the investigation, Clark said.

Kristen Helm, TBI public information officer, said only that the investigation is ongoing as of Wednesday.

For more in-depth coverage, see the latest print edition of the Watauga Democrat, available at hundreds of locations across the High Country.

To subscribe to the Watauga Democrat for less than 15 cents per day, click here (https://ssl.jonesmedia.biz/circ/index.php?db=watauga).