Two men face felony charges in separate incidents involving alleged assaults on Arkansas State Police troopers during traffic stops within a week, according to state police.
Authorities arrested 19-year-old Jaime Mena-Najera on Monday afternoon following an overnight search. According to Arkansas State Police, a trooper stopped Mena-Najera on U.S. Highway 62 in Benton County on Sunday evening after the vehicle was reported to have been driven recklessly. As the trooper attempted to take Mena-Najera into custody, police said he assaulted the trooper and fled on foot.
The trooper suffered a laceration and contusion near his eye and an abrasion to his arm. He was treated at Northwest Medical Center in Bentonville and released. Mena-Najera was booked into the Benton County Detention Center on charges of second-degree battery and escape.
The arrest followed a separate altercation Thursday on Interstate 55 near Burdette in Mississippi County. According to state police, a trooper stopped a Chevrolet Equinox for a traffic violation and attempted to take the driver, 36-year-old Pedro Gonzalez of Luxora, into custody because of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer.
Police allege Gonzalez resisted arrest and attempted to reach for the trooper’s firearm. Two passengers then fled into a nearby wooded area, while Gonzalez also escaped custody and fled. Authorities later found all three people about 200 yards from the traffic stop, hiding near a ditch embankment.
Gonzalez was treated at a Little Rock hospital for injuries before being booked into the Mississippi County Detention Center. He faces charges including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing, resisting arrest, no proof of insurance and no driver’s license. The trooper was not injured.
The incidents come as Arkansas State Police face scrutiny over the use of force during traffic stops.
The scrutiny follows videos of separate encounters in northeast Arkansas. In an Aug. 19 pursuit in Blytheville, dashcam footage shows Trooper Theodore Henderson breaking a rear window of an SUV and pulling passenger Tedrick Washington by his arm and hair before striking him in the face. Washington, 23, was later charged with resisting arrest and obstruction of governmental operations, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Earlier in August, Trooper Moisses Arellano was named as the defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by 18-year-old Alisa Hackett. The lawsuit alleges Arellano used excessive force during an Aug. 1 traffic stop near Manila, according to the Arkansas Advocate. Dashcam footage shows Arellano taking Hackett to the ground while attempting to handcuff her and striking her in the face. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Hackett, has called for an investigation of the use of force. The NAACP Arkansas State Conference has called for an independent investigation, while members of the Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus have sought answers from State Police leadership.
An Arkansas State Police spokesperson has said all uses of force are reviewed internally.
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