FORREST CITY, Ark. — A heated argument turned physical when Lieutenant Darren Smith was caught on camera shoving Arsenio Clinton during an argument.
The Times Herald Newspaper says Smith has been suspended from duty while the police department investigates.
It happened Tuesday evening. Clinton says a number of state troopers were searching his house on Laney Drive for suspects in a crime. Smith and another police officer stood in his yard during the search. “They left. Officer Smith was still standing in my yard.”
Clinton says he asked Smith to leave, so he got in his car and started to pull away, only to hit the breaks and get out. “Got to use profanity at me. He started cussing me out. So we argued back and forth, and he pushed and I pushed him back,” he said.
Another officer broke up the altercation.
Clinton says he had another run-in with Smith back in 2017 when the lieutenant pulled a gun on his friend while off-duty at Walmart. “I believe he’s still mad at me for the incident at the Walmart.”
That incident was caught on video too, along with another incident that was filed later that same year. It shows Smith tasing a man at a nightclub. Police say the man hit a pregnant woman, but witnesses accused Smith of using excessive force.
In a 2016 interview with WREG Smith was quoted saying, “Tasers require restraint.”
Smith will still get paid during his suspension.