Tavores Dewayne Henderson is charged with capital murder of a police officer. He’s accused of hitting and dragging 43-year-old Sgt. Kaila Sullivan in December 2019.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — On Tuesday, the trial began for a man accused of killing a Houston-area police officer nearly six years ago.
Tavores Dewayne Henderson is charged with capital murder of a police officer.
Investigators said Henderson was driving a Jeep when he ran over and dragged 43-year-old Sgt. Kaila Sullivan in December 2019.
They said Sullivan was trying to arrest Henderson, who was wanted on domestic violence charges out of Harris County. While Henderson was being handcuffed, he was able to get away from Sullivan and another officer, get back in his vehicle, and, according to investigators, hit Sullivan with the Jeep while leaving the scene. That Jeep was later found abandoned in an apartment complex parking lot.
Henderson went on the run before a tip led to his arrest. He was captured while allegedly hiding out at a girlfriend’s home. Henderson’s mother and her boyfriend were charged in relation to helping him hide for nearly two days.
At the time of Sullivan’s death, Nassau Bay Police Chief Tom Cromie described her as a “true professional,” a “police officer at heart,” and said, “her blood ran blue.”
Sullivan was a 15-year veteran of the department, just two weeks short of her 16th anniversary. She was the first officer in the department’s history to be killed in the line of duty.
“She was a rock for this department,” Cromie said.
Henderson was 21 at the time of his arrest.
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