ROCKWELL CITY — Before Calhoun County Sheriff Scott Anderson’s resignation Monday morning, eight law enforcement officials mourned the loss of the man they once knew.

While they differed on opinions of where they believe his downward spiral started, they all agreed in emotional court affidavits that the disgraced sheriff they arrested was not the man they once respected.

Anderson’s single-sentence resignation letter came early Monday morning, just hours before the court was scheduled to hear the evidence compiled for the petition to remove him from office. Calhoun County Supervisors met in an emergency session Monday morning to accept the resignation.

New details from the officers’ accounts of the night of April 11, when Anderson was arrested for allegedly choking his wife and assaulting arresting officers at his Manson home, have bolstered the tone depicted by previous criminal complaints. Other details from their decades of experience working with Anderson started to put a finger on the early symptoms of distress after he was elected to the highest law enforcement position of his 32-year career.

The story recounted by officers was one of a man who had, slowly but surely, been overcome by the demons of alcoholism he struggled with for years. In written affidavits, they contrasted a formerly sober Anderson to the person that verbally and physically assaulted his brothers in blue.

“When looking into Scott’s eyes that night, it was just like looking into darkness,” said Deputy Kelly Moritz.

“Scott stated when he drinks, he becomes an (expletive),” said Deputy Jeff Feldhans, describing the scene of Anderson’s arrest. “When I arrived, I met the (expletive) that Scott had called himself. … For the first time in my life I was both scared of and for Sheriff Anderson.”

They watched a grossly intoxicated Anderson, shackled in leg cuffs to prevent him from kicking the windows out of a patrol car, verbally assaulting officers — some of whom he’d known for over 20 years — with a barrage of demeaning insults. It took several officers about nine minutes to handcuff the resistant Anderson and physically carry him out.

“It was decided to place him in my patrol car because I had a cage,” said Pocahontas County Deputy Weston Van Donge, calling the sheriff’s conduct “reprehensible.”

That night, Feldhans knew it was his last shift “with my sheriff and my friend.” That night, the now-acting sheriff cried.

Once he arrived to Webster County Jail, Anderson was placed in the restraint chair to prevent him from making good on explicit threats to assault other officers — both jailers and troopers at their homes after his release. Shortly after leaving, officers that arrested and transported Anderson were called back into the booking room to help subdue the belligerent man.

“I couldn’t believe it when Heather Anderson said to me that (the night of the arrest) was a breeze compared to previous nights when Scott had been drinking,” said Moritz.

Scott Anderson’s wife summarily denied all the recent criminal and ongoing sexual harassment allegations in a video posted to Facebook, calling it a “witch hunt” and smear campaign in its entirety.

But that was not the first night that the sheriff acted like he was above the law, a fellow sheriff said. Other deputies documented in their affidavits a period of reckless disregard, neglect and unbecoming behavior by the former sheriff.

Moritz noticed changes in Anderson’s behavior last year. In the entire month of May 2019, he noted that Anderson had only reported to work four days.

“I could go months without hearing from him,” said Deputy Jason McKenney, after previously interacting with Anderson on a weekly basis.

McKenney said that he clocked the sheriff driving at high rates of speed multiple times: once going 71 mph in a 45-mph zone, and once doing 86 in a 55 zone.

At the scene of a drunk driving crash in January 2019, a paged Anderson was nowhere to be found throughout the entire scene as McKenney waited for an ambulance, assisted paramedics and carried out the investigation by himself. The sheriff was on the clock during the entire incident, parked at his Manson home.

That was when McKenney said he lost faith in his leader. When he was called to the scene of Anderson’s home two weeks ago, he was “only slightly surprised.”

“We had all seen this coming,” McKenney said. “He was slowly self-destructing, and we didn’t know what could be done about it.”

He was one of several officers to describe explicit sadness and grief, in witnessing the man they once respected crash, through affidavits prepared to commence a hearing on Calhoun County Attorney Tina Meth-Farrington’s petition for removal.

“Anderson has been on a long downhill course for the past year and a half and ultimately hit a breaking point during this event,” said Deputy Chase Goodman.

A preliminary hearing on the defendant’s aggravated misdemeanor charge, scheduled for Friday, has been waived. The former sheriff has pleaded not guilty.

The county still faces pending litigation from former civil clerk and dispatcher Tamara Swank regarding graphic allegations of sexual harassment from Anderson.