A former Paris police officer is accused of kneeing a jail inmate in the face, causing facial fractures that required surgery.
Christopher Munoz Brownlow, 33, of Clarksville was charged with second-degree battery, a class D felony, on Wednesday. He had been arrested by Arkansas State Police on Tuesday.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Brownlow was dropping inmates off at the Logan County jail Sept. 14 when a man in a cell became loud and "irate" and kicked the door.
A corrections officer requested the inmate be put "in the chair," according to the affidavit, and Brownlow went with another officer to the man's cell.
The other officer told investigators the man had calmed down and was in bed by the time he and Brownlow arrived.
Brownlow entered the cell, according to the affidavit, and told the inmate he was going to be cuffed and put in the chair. The inmate said he was going to calm down, the document says, but Brownlow then kneed the man in the face "in a diving motion."
The other officer told investigators he did not ask Brownlow to enter the cell.
Arkansas State Police interviewed the inmate, who was reportedly taken to a local hospital and then to UAMS Medical Center. The inmate had multiple fractures around his eye and one in his jaw, and he needed surgery to insert a titanium plate and screws in his face, the affidavit said.
Records from the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training show Brownlow was dismissed from his position as a full-time patrolman in the Paris Police Department in January. He has also worked for the Pope County and Johnson County sheriff's offices.
Paris Police Chief John O'Brien said Thursday 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 same day.
"Based upon my preliminary investigation, I placed the officer on administrative leave, then contacted the prosecuting attorney [Tom Tatum II], and asked him to request the State Police investigate the incident fully," O'Brien said.
"After waiting several months and not hearing anything one way or the other, I terminated the employee on Jan. 6. He was still on his probationary period, and I was tired of paying him for not working, needed to get somebody on the job."
Brownlow has been released from the Logan County jail on $5,000 bond. His arraignment is scheduled to take place March 13 at 9 a.m. in Paris.
The lawyer representing Brownlow, Russell Wood of the Wood Law Firm in Russellville, said Brownlow has no comment on the situation. Wood said the defense has not yet received any of the state's evidence.
State Desk on 02/21/2020