LITTLE ROCK — Authorities are questioning a man who was selling hams in Little Rock from a truckload reported stolen out of South Carolina.
Little Rock Police Department Sgt. Cassandra Davis said Robert Lee, 39, will likely face a theft charge after being stopped and taken into custody in Little Rock late Thursday morning.
Davis said Lee is a truck driver who picked up the hams in South Carolina and was supposed to deliver them to Miami. Instead, he was selling them out of the back of the truck in Little Rock, Davis said.
The truck was still at a business near Chicot and South Base Line roads shortly before 11 a.m. while officials "figure out what to do with the hams," Davis said.
The Arkansas Highway Police and the Department of Health have been called to the scene, police said.
This is not Lee's first brush with Little Rock police in recent days.
Lee is a suspect in an aggravated assault that happened about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in which a driver used his truck to intentionally ram a pickup, pushing it into a building at 1306 Wright Ave. The pickup driver, who was treated for injuries not believed to be life-threatening, identified Lee as the driver and said they had been in a "heated exchange" earlier. He said he believed Lee was "attempting to kill him," according to a police report.
Davis said Lee has not been charged in that case, but that it remains under investigation.
About two hours after that incident, Lee was arrested in an unrelated incident at 5900 Windamere Drive. According to that report, Lee appeared to be "under the influence of narcotics" when he told officers he had been jumped and that his semi truck had been stolen. The report describes his behavior as "erratic."
"He began running in the yard and falling down on purpose and kept saying he was going to kill the people who took his semi in the morning," police wrote. "He then ran up to the garage door and began striking it with his fist. He then told police he was ready to fight and fell to the ground."
Lee was handcuffed a short time later. Police say they had to use pepper spray on him at one point when he struggled and tried to get away from officers.
His charges in that case include public intoxication, disorderly conduct and refusal to submit to arrest.