An Arkansas man has been a*rrested after failing to comply with a local p*olice o*fficer, but he says he did so because he was afraid for his life.
The i*ncident occurred in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, at a closed Double Quick convenience store. Ed Truitt met family there to head back home to Jonesboro, Arkansas, this past weekend. He told WREQ he was parked at the store just after 3 a.m. Sunday, May 26. But his Facebook Live stream of the p*olice encounter showed things began around 11:50 p.m. Saturday night.
“As we were leaving out, a car jumped in front of me, so I hit my brakes to let them go by,” Truitt tells the news outlet.
He also said he was trying to leave the parking lot but p*olice cars began showing up. O*fficers demanded everyone clear the lot and he was blocked in. Things escalated from that point on.
`Once an o*fficer approaches, that’s when Truitt’s stream picks up.
“I started rolling because he jumped out with his gun,” Truitt told the local news.
“Shut the car off!” the unidentified o*fficer sho*uted repeatedly in the video as he shined a bright flashlight into the vehicle.
“No, my hand’s in the air. My hand’s in the air.” Truitt said repeatedly, his hand outside the open window of the car and the other filming on his cell phone.
“Sh*oot me. … My hand’s in the air. … I ain’t moving my hands. He trying to sh*oot me.”
“You failed to comply with the lawful order,” said the o*fficer after earlier stating he wouldn’t sh*oot Truitt but still pointing his gun into the car. He also stated he was filming too, later noting he had a body camera. “You were told to leave the parking lot.”
“I was leaving the parking lot… How did I come back?” Truitt asked in response. He continued to refuse to get out the vehicle and repeatedly asked a person who was off-camera to put the car in park, not wanting to take his hands down.
“He was like, ‘That’s a failure to comply,’ but if I woulda complied, I woulda got k*illed,” Truitt explained to WREQ of why he didn’t listen to the o*fficer’s demands.
During a portion of the confrontation, Truitt acknowledged he does have gun but it was not in reach.
The o*fficer pushed Truitt’s hands back against the car as he remained inside the vehicle. He put handc*uffs around Truitt’s wrist in the process. Finally, the o*fficer reaches through the open window and unlocks the car from the inside. He then forced Truitt out of the car and that’s when Truitt drops his phone.
“Get out the f–king car!” the o*fficer is heard sh*outing.
“Get out the car! Turn over!”
Truitt is heard stating the gun is his and is registered.
“What I did saved my life,” he told the news station. “That’s why I’m here talking to y’all. If not, y’all would be covering a story about how I got sh*ot.”
Truitt was a*rrested for loitering and disregarding an o*fficial order. Meanwhile, the o*fficer has been faced with threats, the news station reported, noting he was off duty Sunday.
Currently, Helena-West Helena P*olice are reviewing body camera footage and collecting statements from the p*olice involved. The p*olice chief says that if any policy v*iolations are discovered they’ll be dealt with.
