“It is my understanding that Mr. Sanders fought back and actually grabbed the officer’s gun,” Ready said.
He also said that Sanders outweighed Herrington, making it hard for the officer to subdue Sanders. He said Herrington did not intend to harm or kill Sanders.
“This was just an unfortunate result of an encounter between him and Mr. Sanders,” Ready said.
State investigators have so far only described what happened as a physical “altercation.”
Lawrence said his witnesses deny Herrington found drugs, or that Sanders grabbed the officer’s gun. He and Lumumba say Kasey Herrington retrieved the gun from her husband’s holster while he restrained Sanders.
Sanders has a history of drug troubles. He was convicted in December 2003 for selling cocaine and went to prison until May 2007. He was arrested again in April for allegedly possessing cocaine. A lawyer who was representing Sanders said authorities were trying to seize his Chevy Tahoe and some cash. Ready noted that if Sanders had drugs, his bond on the earlier charge could have been revoked and he would have had to stay in jail until the charges were resolved.
Herrington has been described as both an excellent police officer and a “Rambo” who held a grudge.
He graduated from a police academy in nearby Meridian in December 2013. Until last week, he was working occasional shifts in Stonewall and two nights a week in neighboring Enterprise. Ready said he also has a full time job as industrial worker, but wouldn’t be more specific.
Enterprise Police Chief Joey Moulds said Herrington is a conscientious officer who kept on good terms with people — even after he’d written them citations.
Moulds said there were few complaints about Herrington and said he was very non-confrontational.
“I would have to put him at the top of the list. He’s the most humble person I know of, extremely humble, extremely responsible,” Moulds said.
But Eddie Crosby, who lives near Enterprise, thinks otherwise. Crosby said Herrington pulled him over multiple times this year to the point where Crosby felt Herrington was harassing him. He wrote a complaint to Moulds and the mayor and complained in a letter published in April by a local newspaper. He didn’t include Herrington’s name — describing the officer only as a “Rambo” type — but confirms he was referring to Herrington.
Afterward, Crosby said Herrington would flash his police lights at him and recently ticketed him for rolling through a stop sign.
“If he got it in for you he was going to have you,” Crosby said. “I could understand the first time but you just don’t stop somebody and make up an excuse.”
Friends of Sanders describe him as a horse-lover who made a living buying, training and selling the animals. He lived next to his mother on a wooded side-road. Clifton Follins, the neighbor, said Sanders’s two children didn’t live with him but frequently visited.
“Ever since he’s been big enough, he loved those horses,” said Follins, 69.
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AP Photographer Rogelio Solis contributed to this report.
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