Tribal police officer arrested in deadly hit-and-run in eastern Arizona

PINETOP-LAKESIDE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A tribal police officer in eastern Arizona has been arrested after he allegedly struck and killed a pedestrian on Thanksgiving, then left the scene. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office confirms that Josh Anderson, now a former officer of the White Mountain Apache Police Dept., is facing charges in the hit-and-run death of 30-year-old Iris Billy.

The deadly collision happened at about 3:30 a.m. last Thursday, Nov. 23, on State Route 73 at milepost 355 near Pinetop-Lakeside. That’s about 2.5 miles south of the Hon-Dah Casino on the Fort Apache Reservation. In a Facebook post a few hours after the crash, police said the unknown vehicle fled the scene and had not been located. In a follow-up message that was posted on Friday night, the department announced that an arrest had been made but provided no other details. Both posts have since been deleted.

During the investigation, police later found that Anderson’s patrol vehicle had damage that was “consistent with a collision with a pedestrian.” On Monday, the NCSO confirmed that Anderson, 49, was arrested at his home in Whiteriver on Friday night. In addition, the sheriff’s office said that Anderson was on duty when the crash occurred and had also responded to the scene and made next-of-kin notifications to Billy’s family.

Following his arrest, Anderson was booked into the White Mountain Apache Adult Detention Facility on multiple tribal charges, including assault, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault causing serious physical injury, criminal negligence, reckless driving, interference with an officer, death caused by a vehicle and leaving the scene of a fatality collision.

The sheriff’s office said Anderson, who was a 20-year veteran of the department who’s well-known across the reservation, resigned immediately following his arrest. The case has now been turned over to the FBI, which will eventually turn its findings into the U.S. Attorney’s Office for review.

“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. This event is an isolated incident and is not a reflection of the fine police officers that serve and protect the citizens of the White Mountain Apache Reservation every day,” the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “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.”

Billy’s sister, Phylene Burnette, says their family is heartbroken and can’t wrap their heads around what Anderson did. “It is very disturbing, sickening and heartless. Whatever he did to her, he came back to the scene and helped investigate,” Burnette said. “And he (Anderson) was one of the four officers that came to my parent’s house to break the news to them.”

Burnette says Billy was a mother to two boys, nine and 10 years old. She has a twin sister as well as two younger siblings. “We were expecting her home that morning. They still need her. She was the sole parent, she was everything to them,” Burnette said. “To know it was someone in our local police department, emotions are all over the place. It’s sadness and anger, like why? He needs to stay in jail.”

Brian Swanty is the chief deputy with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office. He says the tribal chairman and police chief have asked NCSO to take on the role of interacting with the media.

“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,” he said. “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 scene? That is just not normal,” he said.

Swanty says a supervisor from the White Mountain Police Department put all these facts together and went to Anderon’s home and inspected his police car, and as the sergeant was looking at the police car, he recognized the damage that was on the car was consistent with potentially hitting a pedestrian.

“I can’t imagine that scenario there at all, Next of kin are probably one of the worse assignments to be given let alone knowing you had something to do with it, I can’t imagine that,” Swanty said. “Had he stopped, rendered aid like the rest of us would be required to do, we wouldn’t be speaking today.”

https://www.azfamily.com/2023/11/27/arizona-police-officer-arrested-deadly-hit-and-run/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ7o6rSm32M

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