In August of 2016 I posted about an off-duty Somervell County Sheriff’s Deputy who got sloppy drunk, stripped off most of his clothes and then drove over to a church in Ellis County, Texas and started shooting his gun into it.
Once local police arrived, former Deputy William Lane Cox readily admitted that he was drunk and had fired his gun(s) at the church, hitting the building several times. His confession, recorded on those officer’s body cams, included his admission that he had gotten drunk and decided to “blow off some steam” by shooting up the church, which was located within a residential neighborhood.
He also indicated that the reason for his “stress” was the shooting of several Dallas police officers in an incident that happened just prior to his own shooting spree. Among other racist comments Deputy Cox stated, “cause my boys are getting killed in Dallas” and “the black coon start killing my boys” on the video (embedded below).
Not surprisingly, after his initial arrest Deputy Cox received the typical Policeman’s Discount. The next day he was released without bail and shortly after that it was determined that he would not be facing any charges at all. That was partly due to the fact that the pastor of the church (who also just happens to be a police chaplain) didn’t want to press charges for the property damage caused by several bullets that had penetrated the doors and wall of the church.
However, there are numerous other charges that the police could easily have charged Deputy Cox with based on his own confession and the dangerous nature of his actions. Instead, while he was fired by the Somervell County Sheriff’s Office, Johnny Brown the Sheriff in Ellis County was pretty comfortable with not charging someone who admittedly drove drunk, recklessly discharged a gun while intoxicated, and put innocent people in danger by doing so at a building within a residential neighborhood with any crime whatsoever.
It wasn’t until six months later that Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson launched a separate investigation and eventually charged him with “deadly conduct,” a class three felony. In doing so, Wilson stated the obvious: “it is very, very difficult for me to believe that this man, Mr. Cox, was not afforded some special consideration.”
One would tend to think that any special consideration would end. However, as is always the case with police facing trial, that was far from true. In spite of facing a charge where the minimum sentence mandated by law is a two year prison sentence and the added circumstances of having been drinking (and driving) at the time, he still was offered a cushy plea deal based on him having been a “good citizen” prior to his drunken shooting spree. After pleading guilty, Cox was sentenced to just five years of probation a $1,500 fine and ten days in jail. BTW, he gets to serve those ten days on weekends, cuz you it would be a shame if he was inconvenienced.
Once again, I’m sure the average citizen would have gotten the same sort of treatment.
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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