An Arkansas parole officer pointed a gun at Pulaski County sheriff’s deputies who questioned him after finding him passed out in a car Tuesday night, authorities said.
Christopher Brandon Harris, 31, is facing charges of aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, carrying a prohibited weapon and driving while intoxicated. He was listed as an inmate at the Pulaski County jail Wednesday with bail not yet set.
Harris was fired from his position as a parole officer in North Little Rock on Wednesday, according to Dina Tyler, the deputy director of Arkansas Community Correction.
According to a Pulaski County sheriff's office report, deputies found Harris passed out in the driver’s seat of a black Dodge Charger in a parking lot in the 14400 block of Arch Street around 10 p.m. The deputies reportedly made several unsuccessful attempts to waken him.
Authorities ultimately roused Harris and had him step out of the car, where he "began to sway and appeared unsteady on his feet," deputy Joshua Gardner wrote in the report.
Harris was "slow to respond to questions," smelled of alcohol and at one point reached for a deputy's pocket and was told to stop, the report said.
"Harris again reached for me with his right hand and, as his right hand cleared his side, I observed a small silver item in his hand, pointing at my waist," Gardner wrote. "I grabbed his right wrist with my left hand and pulled the item free from his hand. I then looked at the item and found it to be a small Derringer type handgun."
After placing Harris in handcuffs, an examination of the gun indicated that two loaded rounds had been previously misfired, Gardner wrote. A spokesman with the sheriff's office said it was unclear when the rounds misfired.
Police searching the car found ammunition for the gun Harris was holding as well as two Glock handguns and ammunition for those weapons, according to the report.
Parole officers are issued Glock handguns, Tyler said. Other materials found in the car — including handcuffs, pepper spray and department clothing — are also items issued to officers, she said.
Harris began working as a parole officer in 2014 and was assigned with a standard caseload, Tyler said.
Court records indicate he was arrested and pled guilty to careless and prohibited driving in 2009 and 2015.