LITTLE ROCK — The fight at a Little Rock nightclub early Sunday that killed an Oklahoma police officer in town for National Guard training began when a Sheridan man saw a woman he knew dancing with the officer, police said Monday.
Elzie Cain, 25, of Ardmore, Okla., was in Little Rock to begin training at a Camp Robinson sniper school, one of two such training schools in the nation. A specialist in the Oklahoma National Guard as well as an Ardmore police officer, Cain was dancing with a woman at the Electric Cowboy nightclub about 4 a.m. when Aaron Threlkeld, 25, of Sheridan saw the pair, police said.
Threlkeld told police he walked out onto the dance floor and started dancing with the woman whom he called his ex-girlfriend, though Little Rock police Lt. Terry Hastings said he could not confirm the relationship.
Cain put his hand on her arm to turn her around toward him, and Threlkeld tried to turn her the other way, Hastings said. Threlkeld told police Cain cocked his fist as if to throw a punch, so Threlkeld threw one first.
“Yeah I hit him, he swung at me and I hit him,” Threlkeld said outside the club, according to officer K.P. Baer’s report.
Cain went down, hitting his head. He died later Sunday.
Police charged Threlkeld with first-degree battery before Cain died. Hastings said Monday that detectives would send the case file to the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office for review when it is complete. That review will determine whether to charge Threlkeld with a more serious crime.
Booked into the Pulaski County jail at 10:19 a.m. Sunday, Threlkeld posted a $10,000 bond 31 minutes later and was released.
Reached by phone on Monday, Threlkeld declined an interview request.
“Sir, at this time I decline to comment,” he said.
He said he hired an attorney but would not provide the attorney’s name.
Cain had been a member of the 52-officer Ardmore police force for about a year and was still considered a rookie, Capt. Eric Hamblin said. He applied after returning from Iraq, where he served in 2007 with the Oklahoma National Guard’s Charlie Troop, 180th Cavalry, 45th Infantry Brigade.
Ardmore is the seat of Carter County, where Cain grew up in a town called Wilson. He lived in Ardmore and had a girlfriend and a young son there.
“Elzie was very excited about being a policeman,” Hamblin said. “He wanted to learn. He wanted to help people.”
Preparing for a January deployment to Afghanistan, Cain went to Camp Robinson for phase two of the sniper school at the base’s Marksmanship Training Unit. The other is at Fort Benning in Georgia.
Arkansas National Guard Capt. Chris Heathscott said check-in for the school was Saturday. The school has a 10 p.m. curfew and a no-alcohol mandate, he said.
The Marksmanship Training Unit has begun an internal investigation into the circumstances of Cain’s death, Heathscott said.
Hamblin said it was not surprising that Cain went out to meet people and dance.
“He’s kind of a free spirit,” the Ardmore captain said. “Kind of like a young thoroughbred. It would not be out of character for him to be having a good time somewhere.”
That Cain died after getting punched was a shock, Hamblin said.
“It would be very much out of character for him to be out looking for a fight,” Hamblin said.
Cain was extremely proudof his National Guard Service and his country, Hamblin said.
“Elzie had a deep sense of duty,” he said.
And he could have a conversation with just about anybody.
“It didn’t matter what walk of life you came from, he could find a way to talk to you,” Hamblin said.
That he became a sniper and a police officer at all said a lot about Cain, Hamblin said. When Cain was 15, Hamblin said, he shot and killed a 13-year-old friend with a rifle. Authorities ruled the shooting an accident.
Friends and relatives writing on Facebook made references to that shooting in their remembrances of Cain.
His sister, Heather, wrote that she loved him and missed him, but knew he’d have a big smile on his face, maybe “the biggest smile you’ve had in along time catchn up with a friend youve missed everyday.” Information for this report was provided by Amy Schlesing of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/14/2010