Willis cops sentenced after lying about arrest involving 'drive-by tasing'

The trial for two former Willis police officers who stand accused in a "drive by tazing" of a Willis man in 2017 began Monday with the prosecution calling the officers "arrogant" and accusing them of acting "above the law".

Kenneth Elmore, 33, and John McCaffery, 31, both appeared before 221st state District Judge Lisa Michalk Monday afternoon. The pair were indicted in July 2018 by a grand jury and charged with official oppression, a class A misdemeanor, and a second charge of tampering with a governmental record, a state jail felony, court records show.

Defense attorney Paul Aman, who is representing both Elmore and McCaffery, told jurors his clients acted within their authority when they tazed Kendric Kizzie as he fled from them during a July 29, 2017, incident.

Elmore and McCaffery were terminated by the police department in May 2018.

Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Darla Faulkner recounted the incident from July 29, 2017, when Elmore, McCaffery and a third Willis police officer responded to a home where Kizzie was said to have been involved in a dispute with a family member and asked to leave. While Kizzie compiled and left the home, he returned a short time later to gather his belongings.

Family members called the police a second time and Kizzie was again asked to leave.

"All he had on was shorts, shoes, no shirt and his belongings in a trash bag," Faulkner said, adding Kizzie continued to verbally argue with family members and police officers as he walked away from the home.

Once away from the home, Faulkner said, Elmore and McCaffery told Kizzie he had a warrant for a class C misdemeanor. Kizzie told the officers he wasn't going to jail and that they couldn't catch him. Kizzie then fled from the officers who pursued them in their patrol cars without any lights or sirens.

"They decided to make Kendric pay," Faulkner said, saying that the officers were angered by Kizzie's comments and fired their tazers at him from inside their patrol cars. "This is not a legitimate pursuit."

Kizzie was arrested and taken to the Montgomery County Jail. Faulkner alleges Elmore and McCaffery falsified their police reports regarding what had happened.

"They lied because of their arrogance, the lied to cover it up ... and they lied so they would get away with it," she said.

In his opening statement, Aman countered Faulkner and said his clients are authorized to shoot a suspect who is fleeing them.

"Why did they drive their cars?" he asked. "Because they thought he was going to run, and they were right."

Aman said that while the Willis Police Department has policies regarding tazing, the policy does not prohibit officers from tazing a person from inside a patrol car.

Aman told the jury they would see dash and body camera footage that will proof his clients did nothing wrong. The charges against Kizzie were dismissed.

"You will see these are not lying cops," he said. "They have no vendetta. They are not the monsters being portrayed by the state in their opening statements."

The trial continues Tuesday.

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