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Bald Knob charged with trying to strangle officer with blood-soaked gauze

WHITE COUNTY — A Bald Knob 34-year-old accused of trying to strangle a Bald Knob police officer with bloodsoaked gauze officially has been charged.

A warrant was issued last week for Justin Raye Robertson at the request of the 17th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on charges of class D felony aggravated assault upon a law enforcement officer, class D felony criminal attempt to disarm an officer and class D felony battery in the second degree. Robertson is set for plea and arraignment in White County Circuit Court next Tuesday. He remained in custody in the White County jail Tuesday on a $50,000 bond.

According to the affidavit written by Arkansas State Police Special Agent Greg Tebbetts, Officer Arden Tripp had responded Sept. 20 to a residence on Richardson Street for a disturbance call “involving an intoxicated male.”

When Tripp arrived, Robertson reportedly was standing outside and fled on foot. The officer reportedly told Robertson to stop and deployed his Taser when Robertson would not, causing him to drop to the ground and ending the chase.

However, when the officer attempted to arrest Robertson, Robertson “was able to get on top of Officer Tripp, pin him to the ground, wrap a long strip of gauze around his neck and attempt to strangle him with it,” Tebbetts wrote. “The gauze was soaked in Robertson’s blood and had previously been used to wrap an actively bleeding laceration on his right wrist. The strangulation attempt transferred Robertson’s blood onto Officer Tripp’s neck.”

Tebbetts noted that there were red marks on the officer’s neck “consistent with the gauze being tightly wrapped around his neck and cuts on his hand that he advised resulted from the struggle.”

In addition, Robertson reportedly got a hand on the officer’s semi-automatic pistol and caused it to discharge a shot “in a random direction, causing a substantial danger of death or serious injury to others in the dense residential neighborhood.” Tebbetts wrote that the shell casing was recovered from the ground near where the struggle had occurred.

Tebbetts wrote that Tripp’s uniform clearly identified him as a police officer and his body camera footage showed that “he verbally identified himself as police upon initially approaching Robertson.”

A warrant on an aggravated assault charge also was issued late last week for Steven Daniel Summers, 53, of Dayton, Texas. No court appearance had been scheduled on the class D felony as of Tuesday and Summers was not in custody in White County.

Summers reportedly fired a shot Oct. 11 at the Love’s Truck Stop on Queensway Street during an altercation with another driver. He reportedly told Searcy police that he had done it “in self-defense” and informed them where the gun was located, behind his truck’s passenger seat.

The alleged victim reportedly told police that Summers “came to his door and opened it aggressively,” telling him how he had hit his truck.

When he followed Summers to the back of the truck to see the damage, Summers reportedly “became irate and brandished a firearm.” The alleged victim reportedly said Summers then pointed the gun at him and told him that he would kill him.

After the alleged victim reportedly “put his hands up and told Summers to do it,” he closed his eyes and heard a shot. However, he reportedly

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said Summers had not fired the gun at him. He then went back to his truck and called the police.

A .40-caliber Smith and Wesson shell casing was found on the passenger side of Summers’ vehicle, Detective Daniel Dillard wrote in the affidavit. The gun had a magazine in it with 13 rounds and “an empty chamber.”

When interviewed at the Searcy Police Department, Summers reportedly said he was on the bunk in his truck asleep when it was struck. He put his gun in his back pocket, got out of his truck and confronted the alleged victim, whom he said began “arguing about the accident.” He reportedly said the alleged victim threatened him, so “he pulled out his firearm and pointed it at his chest, telling him not to come any closer.”

After the alleged victim reportedly “began yelling and telling him to shoot him,” Summers said that he fired a warning shot at the ground to the left of the alleged victim.

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Paragould man, struck killed by SUV

PARAGOULD – A Paragould man has died from injuries sustained in a vehicle/pedestrian crash earlier this month on a county road, according to Arkansas State Police.

Reggie Smith, 55, of Paragould was killed in the crash, which happened around 6 p.m. Nov. 14 on Greene County Road 808.

ASP said in a preliminary fatality report that Smith was walking south on Greene County Road 808 as a 2002 Toyota Sequoia was also going south. The driver of the Sequoia did not see Smith walking and struck him from behind, ASP said. Smith was taken to a Memphis hospital, where he later died.