An Arizona tribal officer allegedly killed a single mother of two in a fatal hit-and-run crash on Thanksgiving — only to later return to the scene as one of the cops investigating the incident, authorities said.
Josh Anderson, 49, an officer with the White Mountain Apache Police Department, even allegedly joined three other cops to inform Iris Billy’s parents that she had been killed while walking on State Route 73 at around 3:30 a.m.
“It is very disturbing, sickening and heartless,” Iris’ sister Phylene Burnette told Arizona Family about the officer’s alleged actions.
“Whatever he did to her, he came back to the scene and helped investigate. And he was one of the four officers that came to my parents’ house to break the news to them.
“We were expecting her home that morning,” Burnette said of her 30-year-old sister.
“To know it was someone in our local police department, emotions are all over the place. It’s sadness and anger, like why?”
She said Anderson, who was booked into the White Mountain Apache Adult Detention Facility on Friday, “needs to remain in jail” and added that Billy left behind two sons — Imani, 10 and Kolby, 9.
“They still need her,” Burnette said. “She was the sole parent, she was everything to them.”
Tribal police said they quickly realized one of their own officers was the main suspect in the early morning crash after Anderson’s patrol vehicle was found with damage “consistent with a collision with a pedestrian.”
Anderson was on duty at the time of the crash, the White Mountain Apache Police Department said in a statement.
“They started to recognize there was a police car that was there [at the scene] that had some damage on it, but again, in rural Arizona, our cars get torn up sometimes because officers go to the forest,” Chief Deputy Brian Swanty explained to Arizona Family.
“But as the investigation continued, there was more and more indication saying something just isn’t fitting here.
“Who would ever think it was the police car involved that’s now back on [the] scene? That is just not normal,” Swanty added.
“I can’t imagine that scenario there at all,” he said, noting that informing next of kin their relative died is “probably one of the worst assignments to be given, let alone knowing you had something to do with it, I can’t imagine that.”
“Had he stopped, rendered aid like the rest of us would be required to do, we wouldn’t be speaking today,” Swanty said.
Anderson is now charged with tribal violations of assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault causing serious physical injury and criminal negligence.
He is also charged with reckless driving, interference with an officer, death caused by a vehicle and leaving the scene of a fatality collision.
Following his arrest on Friday, Anderson resigned from the police department he has served for 20 years.
The case has now been turned over to the FBI.
It is unclear if Anderson has retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
“This is an extremely sad time for the family of the victim, the men and women at the White Mountain Apache Police Department and the White Mountain Apache Tribe,” the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“This event is an isolated incident and is not reflective of the fine police officers that serve and protect the citizens of the White Mountain Apache Reservation every day,” it stressed.
“The White Mountain Apache Police Department acted in a swift, transparent and aggressive manner to find the facts and document the incident.
“Their professionalism and vigilance throughout the investigation resulted in the ability to gather evidence and facts surrounding the death of Iris Billy.”
Former Chairwoman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe Gwendena Lee also wrote on Facebook that the news has devastated the tribal community.
“The tragic and violent death of Iris in our small, tight knit community brings heartache and sorrow to all of us,” she wrote.
“My prayers and all of our prayers go out to the Billy family,” Lee said. “We feel and extend great sympathy for the Billy family’s broken heart.
“I have had the distinct honor of working with Lorene (the mother of Iris) in various capacities at the Tribe and at Theodore Roosevelt School as School Board members…,” she added.
“I am very mindful that words cannot match the depths of your sorrow Lorene, nor your husband, children [and] especially the grandchildren who have lost their mom. Nor can the words heal your wounded hearts.
But, she said, “I hope you know that you are not alone in your grief, that everyone who knew Iris and even those who didn’t, their world has been torn apart.”