Nine of 10 officers placed on paid administrative leave after they returned fire and killed a 37-year-old man who had barricaded himself inside a northeast Arkansas home have been cleared to return to duty Tuesday, authorities said.
SWAT team officers with the Jonesboro Police Department on June 5 shot and killed 37-year-old Jay Michael Clem outside a mobile home in the 3100 block of Barnhill Road. Clem reportedly shot his 67-year-old mother in the lower back and pointed a gun at other people in the trailer home before engaging police in a four-hour-long standoff, according to a statement by the department.
Authorities said Clem came out of the house and fired multiple times at officers, who returned fire, fatally wounding him. Those officers were placed on paid administrative leave following the shooting, a department spokeswoman said.
On May 10, the department released edited footage of the shooting.
All 10 SWAT team officers have since been cleared of criminal charges by Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington after reviewing the initial investigation by Arkansas State Police.
In a June 13 letter to Arkansas State Police, Ellington said the officers "were reasonable in believing that their life as well as the lives of their fellow officers were in danger when they discharged their service weapons.”
The officer who hasn’t yet been OK’d for duty was on a previously scheduled vacation, according to the department. Detective Brian Arnold will undergo an internal investigation and mental evaluation when he returns.