Grand jury indicts man in Texas-side officer’s death
Justin Sanders now facing murder charge instead of aggravated assault on peace officer
A Bowie County grand jury Thursday indicted for murder the man accused of fatally striking a Texarkana, Texas, police officer with an SUV and leaving the scene.
Justin Sanders, 21, was first indicted in August for aggravated assault on a peace officer. Thursday, the charges against him for allegedly running down Officer William Sprague on June 14 were upped to murder.
Both offenses are punishable by five to 99 years or life in prison. But Texas law does not allow probation for defendants convicted of murder. If a jury recommends it and a defendant is sentenced to 10 or fewer years for aggravated assault on a peace officer, probation is a possibility.
Sanders is scheduled to appear Dec. 5 before 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart for arraignment on the new indictment.
Sanders is accused of leaving the scene after striking Sprague with a silver GMC Acadia about 1 a.m. June 14 at Grady T. Wallace Park in Texarkana, according to records.
About 100 people had gathered in the park when it was closed. Sprague was the first officer to respond to a disturbance call concerning fights
among members of the large crowd, according to a probablecause affidavit.
Sprague’s dash camera video shows before the officer was hit, he activated his overhead lights and got out of his squad car to tell someone out of the camera’s view to stop.
Sprague died the following day of head and crush injuries.
Investigators identified Sanders as a suspect based on witness statements and photo identifications of Sanders. Sanders was interviewed at the Bi-State Justice Building the same day.
Sanders allegedly admitted to driving through the park because he heard “something was going down” there but denied striking Sprague with his mother’s SUV.
“The chrome grill on the front of the SUV appeared to be wiped down and had streak marks around most of it,” the affidavit states. “On the hood above the passenger-side headlight were four distinct drag marks in the dust that looked like they were deposited from a hand and fingers.”
Irregular drag marks also were noted on the center of the hood.
“The passenger-side bumper cover was separated from the front right fender. The front right fender well was pulled away from the bumper cover. The front passenger aluminum wheel exhibited a black substance, possibly from Officer Sprague’s duty rig on all five wheel spokes,” the affidavit states. “The front passenger tire had irregular scuff marks around its circumference.”
At a pretrial hearing Nov. 7, Lockhart said Sanders’ trial will be moved from Bowie County to Rockwall, Texas, because of pretrial publicity and because Sprague was well known in the community. Lockhart set jury selection for March 11 in Rockwall.
But the judge said the date might necessarily be delayed if reports on evidence testing from the state crime lab are not received far enough in advance of trial. How Sanders’ new indictment for murder may affect the trial date might be addressed at his arraignment hearing.
Sanders is free on bond posted on $150,000 bail. He must wear a leg monitor equipped with GPS technology as a condition of his pretrial freedom.