PARIS -- A former Paris police officer pleaded innocent this week after being accused of kneeing a jail inmate in the face in September.
Christopher Munoz Brownlow, 33, of Clarksville requested that the Logan County Circuit Court enter this plea to the one charge of second-degree battery against him in a waiver of arraignment filed Wednesday by the lawyer representing him, Russell Wood of the Wood Law Firm in Russellville.
Logan County Circuit Court Judge Jerry Don Ramey on Friday set May 8 as the date for Brownlow's pretrial hearing and May 29 as the date for his jury trial.
Brownlow had been charged with the class D felony on Feb. 19. He had been arrested by Arkansas State Police on Feb. 18, and had been released from the Logan County jail on a $5,000 bond.
A probable-cause affidavit states Brownlow was dropping off inmates at the Logan County jail when a man in a cell became "irate," yelling and kicking the door. A detention officer requested that this inmate be put "in the chair," with Brownlow going to the man's cell with another officer.
The other officer informed investigators that the man had calmed down and was lying down on his cot by the time he and Brownlow arrived.
After Brownlow went into the cell, the affidavit states he told the inmate that he needed to stand up and that he was going to be cuffed and put in the chair. The inmate said he was going to calm down, after which Brownlow kneed the man in the left side of his face "in a diving motion." The other officer told investigators that he did not ask Brownlow to enter the man's cell.
Arkansas State Police interviewed the inmate, who was reportedly taken to a hospital in Paris and then to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock. The affidavit states he had multiple fractures around his eye and another in his jaw, and had to have surgery to insert a titanium plate and screws in his face.
Paris Police Chief John O'Brien said Feb. 20 that he received word on the morning of Sept. 15 that an incident had taken place at the Logan County jail between an inmate and Brownlow. He personally conducted a brief investigation that day, and placed Brownlow on administrative leave based on that investigation. He then contacted Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum II, and asked him to request that Arkansas State Police investigate the incident.
O'Brien said he terminated Brownlow's employment on Jan. 6 after several months of waiting and "not hearing anything one way or the other."
Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training records show Brownlow was a full-time patrolman in the Paris Police Department before his dismissal. He had held that position since April 8. Brownlow has also worked for the Pope County and Johnson County sheriff's offices during his career.
Information for this article was contributed by Nyssa Kruse of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 03/14/2020