Officer down: City mourns slain lawmen

WEST MEMPHIS — The two police officers killed in an Interstate 40 shootout last week died heroes, protecting the community they loved, pastors said during both of the fallen officers’ funerals Monday.

The Rev. Ron Kirkland, pastor of First Baptist Church, said Sgt. Brandon Paudert and Thomas “Bill” Evans of the West Memphis Police Department were “the first line of defense against the wicked people who would do us all harm.”

“They did die as heroes,” Kirkland said during Paudert’s morning funeral at the Lehr Arena on theWest Memphis High School campus, which was attended by close to 1,000 family members, friends and law enforcement officers from several states.

“I also know that every man who wears the badge, if you were called upon to do so, would do exactly the same.

“And we love you for it, and we thank you.”

During Evans’ afternoon service, also held at the Lehr Arena, West Memphis First Assembly of God pastor Rusty L. Blann echoed the sentiments.

“They showed courage,” he said.

Paudert and Evans were shot down Thursday during a traffic stop along Interstate 40 in West Memphis. The killers, Jerry Kane, 45, of Forest, Ohio, and his son, Joseph, 16, died about 90 minutes later during a gunbattle in a Wal-Mart parking lot about a mile away.

During the gunfight at Wal-Mart, Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby and Chief Deputy W.A. Wren were also shot.

Busby was treated for a shoulder injury and was released from the Regional Medical Center in Memphis over the weekend. Wren remained hospitalized with an abdominal wound. Both announced earlier this year that they would retire in December.

Jerry Kane, who expressed anti-government and anti-bank views in online videos, had been traveling from Las Vegas to Florida with his son. Kane delivered seminars across the country on how to evade mortgages and forestall foreclosures.

Public records show that the elder Kane had a criminal record and history of confrontation with authority.

Investigators have not released many details about the shootings or the traffic stop. But Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler has said a handgun and “long rifle” were used in the slayings of the two officers.

Paudert, 39, and Evans, 38, each had served on the police force for about a decade. They were members of a specialized unit that fought drug trafficking on the highways.

A giant American flag hung over the entrance to the auditorium where their funerals were held Monday, suspended from two Marion Fire Department trucks.

Paper cups stuck inside the chain link fence at the Hamilton-Shultz football field next to the arena spelled out: “Fallen, so we can stand.”

Inside, law-enforcement officers from across the country filled the stadium. Along with officers from across Arkansas, law-enforcement officials from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana and New York attended both services.

Many had black tape adhered across their badges. Others inserted funeral programs inside the lining of their hats.

Paudert’s funeral began at 10 a.m. to haunting music from the Wolf River Pipes and Drums bagpipe team from Memphis.

The audience, including Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, stood as about 50 of Paudert’s family and closest friends filed in somberly. Paudert’s father, Bob Paudert, is chief of the West Memphis Police Department.

Soon, a sunny sky turned gray and thunder rumbled, punctuating the eulogy.

The Rev. Wallace Sherbon opened with a prayer, asking God to protect the community from “godless men and their evil deeds and their wicked plots.”

Before him sat Paudert’s flag-draped coffin. Behind it were dozens of flower arrangements, including two displays of white flowers shaped like police badges.

In front of the family was a table covered with photographs of Paudert in uniform. In one, Paudert posed in front of a cache of marijuana that he helped seize.

Kirkland called the deaths a “great, great tragedy” that cannot be explained by man.

“We try to make sense of it, try to find a reason for why this happened,” he said. “The reality is we don’t know.”

Later, the bagpipe team played “Amazing Grace.” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” followed over the arena speakers.

The Rev. Billy Beech, the department’s chaplain, thanked the community for its support on behalf of the Paudert family. Brandon Paudert is survived by a wife and three young children.

Beech said the family will need even more support in the days ahead.

“The hugs, the cards, the phone calls ... don’t stop,” Beech said. “That’s what they all need.”

Toward the end, officers fired a 21-gun salute, and abugler sounded taps. Officers folded Paudert’s final flag and delivered it to his mourning family.

The service closed with a pre-recorded police radio transmission broadcast over the auditorium loudspeakers. Mourners wailed as a police officer’s voice hung in the arena air.

Trust in God to get through the crisis, Kirkland told the family, and take solace in the knowledge that Paudert is in a better place.

“If Brandon was speaking right now, he’d probably say, ‘Wow, this is something - better than we ever dreamed,’” Kirkland said. “And I’m glad for him. And one day I’m going to see him there.”

Evans’ service, held at 2 p.m. Monday, was less formal and featured more music, including tunes by Conway Twitty and Merle Haggard.

His two sons and his fiancee sat near Evans’ casket while a montage of pictures of Evans played on a large screen.

Friends remembered Evans during the service as a fun-loving person who wanted to make people smile.

The officer also took a lot of ribbing from friends about his inability to spell, Blann said during the service.

“He attended a class in Memphis and texted to [an officer] that he learned about ‘pharmaceutical infrastructure,’” the pastor said. “He butchered the spelling of the words.”

Evans liked to joke, and it was his trademark to poke friends in the ribs whenever he saw them.

“You never saw it coming, but you knew you’d get it,” Evans’ sister, Angela Driver of Turrell, wrote in a letter read by Clayton Adams, pastor of the First Assembly of God in West Memphis.

But there was a serious side to Evans as well, she said in the letter.

“I never dreamed I would have to face the reality,” she wrote. “When we heard there was an officer down, it was - in fact - our officer.”

Before his death Thursday, Evans often worried about his safety, Blann said.

“He said, ‘I had a lot of close calls lately,’” Blann said of conversations he had with Evans the past few months. “He said he prayed in his car for his safety.”

Driver said in her letter that her brother talked to her about what would happen if either one of them died.

Evans was a K-9 officer, often using his drug-sniffing dog during traffic stops. An officer sat next to Evans’ casket Thursday, holding Evans’ dog on a leash.

Scores of drug dogs stood outside the arena with handlers.

Pastors thanked the officers who attended and those who sent cards of support to both families.

“It’s out of respect,” said Lt. David Hunt of the Russellville Police Department, who attended both funerals. “We understood that this could have very well happened to us. We have Interstate 40, and we have a drug interdiction unit.”

Dewayne Climer, a deputy with the Chester County, Tenn., sheriff’s office, made the three-hour trip to West Memphis to repay support he received when his friend, Henderson Police Dept. Cpt. Dennis Cagle was killed Dec. 13, 2009, during an armed robbery in the west Tennessee town.

“It’s an emotional time,” Climer said. “I just wanted to show their families my support.”

John Smith, a police chaplain and reserve officer with the West Memphis Police Department, said officers are saddened by the loss of their two friends but will find comfort in the outpouring of support.

“We will grieve, but we will have hope at the same time,” Smith said.

“There is no logic to this, but we know God is in control.”