CONWAY -- A former Faulkner County sheriff's deputy is scheduled to go on trial July 22 on a misdemeanor battery charge.
Eugene Watlington, 43, of Vilonia will appear at 1 p.m. before Special District Judge Mark Derrick in Faulkner County District Court.
Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Howard Brill appointed the White County district judge to hear the case after both of the Faulkner County district judges, David Reynolds and Susan Weaver, recused.
A special prosecutor, Tom Tatum of Danville, is handling the case.
Third-degree battery is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Watlington pleaded innocent last month to the charge. It relates to the May 4, 2015, arrest of Harvey Martin III, 46, of Conway after a high-speed car chase between Mayflower and Conway. Video footage from a body camera worn by a Mayflower police officer at the scene showed Watlington kicking Martin even though Watlington didn't appear to be helping with the arrest.
Andy Shock, the Faulkner County sheriff at the time, later fired Watlington for using "excessive force." Shock has since left the sheriff's office to take a position on the Arkansas Board of Parole.
Authorities have said they learned later that the car's passenger, Christopher Cummings, 29, of North Little Rock, had a gun aimed at Martin, who was driving, so that Martin would flee the police. Charges against Martin were dismissed.
Cummings fired shots at sheriff's deputies' cars but did not strike any officers, authorities said.
Cummings and Martin were treated for minor injuries at a hospital emergency room and released the same night to the sheriff's office.
Cummings is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder and drug and firearms charges.
State Desk on 05/12/2016