Police arrested three car-burglary suspects Thursday near downtown Little Rock after a search that left one officer bitten by a confused police dog and another injured by a fleeing suspect.
Officers responded about 11:57 a.m. to the area of West 20th and South Louisiana streets. Carroll Flynn, 65, had called police after noticing his car had been burglarized. He told officers he saw three men entering other vehicles in a grocery store parking lot and followed the trio, according to a police report.
The burglars noticed Flynn and walked toward him, but they fled in different directions when he showed them a pistol, the report states. Flynn continued following one of the men and led police to his location.
SWAT officers detained Cedric Richardson, 29, at East Charles Bussey Avenue and South Arch Street. Richardson was unrestrained in the back seat of a patrol car when Sgt. Travis Cumming opened the door to speak to him, police said. That's when Richardson purportedly pushed open the door and tried to run.
Cumming took Richardson to the ground and stunned him with an electroshock gun twice before gaining control. Both men were injured. Richardson was taken to UAMS Medical Center with lacerations on his face and head. Cumming went to Baptist Health Medical Center with a finger he believed was dislocated or broken.
A few blocks east, officers had tracked the other two men to a house at 2019 Center St. They believed the men were hiding in the house's crawl space.
Police reported that Dominique Hickey, 21, soon emerged and surrendered.
Officers then sent a police dog into the space. The dog instead pursued a cat, chasing it to a hatch that was being held shut by officer Austin Lynch, 48. The dog knocked Lynch down and bit him several times on the hand and left leg, police reported.
The dog's handler gained control of the animal and Lynch was taken to Baptist Health Medical Center.
It turned out the cat was alone underneath the house. Officers soon spotted the third man, 18-year-old Lewis Smith, walking down a nearby street and arrested him.
Richardson, Hickey and Smith were each charged with breaking or entering and theft of property. Richardson was additionally charged with second-degree battery, fleeing and refusal to submit to arrest.
Officers recovered $2.89 in change they believe the trio had taken, according to a police report.
Metro on 01/30/2015