ARLINGTON, Tenn. — An Arlington man was arrested Thursday after police say he assaulted his wife, who was found lying on Interstate 40 with a severe head wound.
Franklin Burleson, 37, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault. The former Shelby County corrections officer is now out on bond.
According to the police report, deputies responded to the westbound lanes of I-40 near mile marker 23 overnight only to find a woman face down on the ground outside a vehicle.
Blood appeared to be coming from her head and she was continuously screaming “help me.”
First responders rushed her to the hospital where she was treated for a skull fracture and a puncture wound to her head.
Deputies made a welfare check of the victim’s home and discovered that the garage door and the door leading into the home were both open. Inside, they found bloody clothes and rags in the laundry room as well as evidence of a disturbance in the kitchen.
Around the same time, responding officers located the woman’s husband, Burleson, walking down the street outside their home. They said he appeared disheveled, had blood on his hands, was dirty and his sweatshirt was torn.
A Shelby County Sheriff’s Office spokesman confirmed Burleson is a former Shelby County Corrections officer who was employed by SCSO from 2012 to 2014, but was terminated for “excessive force.”
