CONWAY — Police say a Faulkner County Circuit Judge David Clark and a Conway Parks Department worker engaged in an altercation following a traffic encounter. The worker and another man were arrested on alcohol charges.
Conway Police Department reports say 19-year-old Mason Hess claimed Monday that Clark’s car cut off a sport utility vehicle in which Hess was riding, and Hess made a derogatory hand gesture toward Clark. The two vehicles eventually stopped, and accounts differ about what happened then.
Clark told police that Hess approached his vehicle, leaned in the window and punched him in the face. The reports say that, according to Hess, after Clark yelled obscenities at Hess and the SUV’s driver, Hess approached Clark’s car and Clark grabbed at him and pulled him into the vehicle, scratching an arm. Hess told police he punched at Clark in self-defense.
Hess, later observed by police driving another vehicle, and the SUV driver were charged after breath-analysis tests showed them with blood-alcohol levels above 0.08 percent. The police report does not reflect any charge stemming from the altercation involving Hess and Clark.