Van Zandt County Sheriff, Two Others Charged With Giving False Statements To A Peace Officer
A Van Zandt County Sheriff and two other people in his office have been criminally charged.
On Friday, Sheriff Steve Hendrix, Chief Deputy Jerry Wood, and Blake Snell were indicted.
Written evidence of an occurrence of excessive force against an inmate was received by District Attorney Tonda Curry. The incident happened in November, and an investigation started in December.
Former Chief Deputy Craig Shelton confessed to hitting a person in the face who was handcuffed. He couldn’t provide a reason for his actions.
“Once the rangers’ investigation was completed, there was probable cause to believe that other officers at the Sheriff’s Department had witnessed the incident. But, they weren’t truthful when interviewed by the ranger,” said the DA.
“With this information, I determined that the appropriate course of action was to bring in a Special Prosecutor.”
All three men are facing a Class B misdemeanor charge of making a false statement to a peace officer.
