Sheriff accused of ordering his deputies to stop enforcing DWI arrests

CARROLL COUNTY, Mo. (KCTV/Gray News) — Eight months, zero DWI arrests. That’s the troubling reality in Carroll County, Missouri.

Former deputies accuse the Carroll County sheriff of ordering them to stop arresting impaired drivers.

Carroll County, Missouri

“It is a good ol’ boy county,” said a former Carroll County deputy going by the name ‘John.’

It’s a small county of just under 8,500 people. The county courthouse and sheriff’s office are based in Carrollton, Missouri.

“Drinking is a sport, everybody drinks,” said another former Carroll County sheriff’s deputy, going by ‘Steve.’

These deputies requested anonymity to protect their careers. They claim that DWI enforcement isn’t happening, and they both left the department within the last year.

“Didn’t really have the support of the sheriff,” ‘John’ said

“We were constantly threatened with our jobs,” ‘Steve’ said.

The investigation into these claims started in August. It took several months to receive state records and multiple attempts to contact county officials for comment.

The allegations

The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office is one of the few law enforcement agencies within the county. William Jewell McCoy is the sheriff; he has served in this role for more than five years.

Both anonymous deputies claimed they faced blowback from Sheriff McCoy for arresting impaired drivers.

“His big thing was if you get a drunk driver, either call highway patrol, or have them call for a ride,” ‘John’ said.

“Literally the sheriff called us and told us that he would rather us deal with a 1050 than a DUI, and in case you don’t know what 1050 is, it’s a crash,” ‘Steve’ said.

Sheriff McCoy has denied the allegations.

“If we stop a vehicle and they are under the influence of alcohol, they get brought in,” Sheriff McCoy said in November.

Deputy ‘Steve’ said this past spring, the sheriff decided for the staff.

“We had a staff meeting where we were all literally told don’t write DWIs anymore, write careless and imprudent driving tickets, and go home,” ‘Steve’ said.

Public records from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office show DWI cases have dropped since last year.

In 2024, the department reported making 16 DWI arrests; this year, they say they’ve made nine.

However, state records for 2025 only show that the sheriff’s office has seven case filings, and the rest are from the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Carrollton Police Department.

Most notably, the Missouri State Judicial Records Committee provided a list that shows the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office hasn’t had a single DWI case in the court system since April 16, 2025.

The sheriff’s response

Sheriff McCoy has declined interview requests several times, saying he would look over his schedule, but he eventually stopped responding.

KCTV5 Investigates decided to go to Carroll County in person to get some answers and caught up with the sheriff outside the Carroll County Courthouse:

Reporter Samantha Boring asked: “Why hasn’t your office had any DWI cases since April?”

“Ma’am, I’ve got no comment,” Sheriff McCoy responded.

He spoke further after being shown records obtained from the sheriff’s office.

“OK, then you got all the records we’ve got on DWIs,” Sheriff McCoy said. “None since April? Ma’am, I’m sorry, people here, we just ain’t catching no DWI offenders.”

But data shows there have been DWI arrests in the County, just not by McCoy’s deputies.

19 DWIs

Records from the state show there have been 19 DWI cases in the county since the end of April 2025.

Seven were handled by Carrollton Police and 12 by the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The sheriff said the claims that his department isn’t doing DWI enforcement are a lie. When asked, “Why hasn’t that been happening?” he paused, eventually saying, “Well, you don’t stop a vehicle every day.”

Beyond the arrest records, the former deputies pointed to Carroll County’s DWI prosecution rates since April as further proof of their claims. They believe the DWI arrests they made were never brought to the county prosecutor.

“There were too many DWI cases that didn’t get charged for it to not be a coincidence when people were clearly (expletive) up out of their minds,” ‘Steve’ said.

It’s Sheriff McCoy’s job to bring DWI cases to the prosecutor’s office. Again, he denied the claims.

“I’m telling you now, we bring every DWI case we get to the prosecutor’s office, the deputies that are trying to stir up this trouble are the same ones whose cases failed on them in court, and that is why they are upset, and they are no longer with me,” Sheriff McCoy said.

The prosecutor responds

Carroll County Prosecuting Attorney Cassandra Brown was contacted to check if she knew of the claims.

In her emailed response, Brown shared that when she gets a DWI case, she checks two things:

• If the initial stop was legal.
• The investigation was done properly.

If both of those check out, she files charges. If not, she declines to prosecute.

At the end of her email, she shared, “Since April 1, 2025, I have not declined to prosecute any cases of DWI from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department.”

KCTV5 Investigates reached out to the sheriff to clarify, asking, ‘Does that mean your office has not sent a DWI case to the prosecutor’s office since April 1? He has not immediately responded.

MADD Missouri complaints

This all came to light when Mothers Against Drunk Driving Missouri, received numerous anonymous complaints that employees were no longer allowed to make DWI arrests.

“That is against everything that MADD is here for,” MADD Missouri Executive Director Tabitha Perkins said.

MADD Missouri opened an investigation into the complaints.

Perkins said they took the concerns to the department and encouraged them to make sure the deputies have the tools they need to process DWIs.

“He assured us that they were following the policies that are set in place by the state of Missouri to make sure that the officers can arrest individuals,” Perkins said.

The sheriff was asked about those tools, specifically the breath tests.

“Yes, ma’am, we sure do. We’ve got them over at the office right now, so if they want to do a breath test on somebody, they can,” Sheriff McCoy said.

Former deputies want more done

“I think it is sickening,” ‘John’ said.

For these former deputies, they feel they knew what to do, but it was the sheriff who didn’t want to do it.

“The man was elected to enforce the law, not to coddle criminals,” ‘Steve’ said.

They want the Missouri Attorney General to get involved.

“I am a firm believer in justice, but correct justice,” ‘John’ said.

And for those on the roads, KCTV5 Investigates asked the sheriff, “How are you keeping them safe from impaired drivers?”

“We deal with these drunk drivers just like we do everybody else,” Sheriff McCoy said.

KCTV5 reached out to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to see if these allegations have been looked into and is waiting to hear back.