HOT SPRINGS — A man pleaded guilty Monday to felony charges of negligent homicide and aggravated assault stemming from separate events in 2011, including a fatal car wreck and a confrontation where a man was set on fire.
Phillip Anthony Pollet, 21, who was set to stand trial Tuesday on the negligent homicide charge and Oct. 10 on the assault charge, pleaded guilty to both and was sentenced to five years in prison on each count, to run concurrently, and ordered to pay a total of $340 in court costs.
A misdemeanor charge of theft by receiving of a firearm in the assault charge was withdrawn by prosecutors.
According to an affidavit on the negligent homicide charge, shortly before 7 p.m. May 21, 2011, Garland County sheriff’s Cpl. Robbie Swinney was dispatched to a one-vehicle accident where a silver 2000 Chevrolet sport utility vehicle was found in a field.
The front-seat passenger, Leslie Chicots, 30, of Hot Springs, was ejected from thevehicle and died during surgery.
Another occupant, Patience Mullen, 19, of Pearcy, had told Swinney that she yelled at the driver - identified as Pollet - to slow down, the affidavit said.
When another vehicle came at them, Pollet swerved and lost control, causing the vehicle to leave the roadway and flip at least four times before stopping, the affidavit said.
A toxicology report revealed Pollet’s blood-alcohol level was 0.10 percent, over the legal limit.
Pollet was arrested on a negligent homicide warrant Nov. 16, 2011, after an altercation in which Edmund Ray Morris, 21, was set on fire.
Pollet was charged with aggravated assault and theft by receiving Dec. 2, 2011. Aaron Scott Stapleton, 21, was charged with first-degree battery.
According to an affidavit, Hot Springs police responded shortly after midnight Nov. 16 to a report of shots fired and arrived to see Garland County sheriff’s office vehicles. Officers stopped a white Hyundai Tiburon leaving the parking lot of the McDonald’s at 1214 Albert Pike with no headlights and detained the driver, identified as Stapleton.
According to the affidavit, Stapleton told them he had come to McDonald’s to meet Pollet to fight. They had been arguing on Facebook for months and “decided to settle it,” he said.
When he arrived, he saw Pollet’s friend, identified as Morris, with him. Stapleton had a cup of gasoline in one hand and a lighter in the other as he approached them, the affidavit said.
Stapleton said he heard one of the men say something about a gun, so he threw the gasoline on Morris, who took a swing at him, the affidavit said. Stapleton then used the lighter to set Morris on fire.
Morris was initially taken to a local hospital and later transferred to a burn center in Memphis for further treatment.
Officers found three bullet holes in the driver’s side door of Stapleton’s car, another bullet hole in the passenger-side window and one in the windshield.
Arkansas, Pages 18 on 07/26/2012