A Pine Bluff man who was allegedly involved in an altercation with another man Wednesday on the Southeast Arkansas College parking lot was arrested Thursday when he went back to the campus.
Pine Bluff Police Department spokesman Sgt. David De Foor said Jamal Jones, 24, was taken into custody after he was chased down by officers who had responded to a report that Jones had been seen by a security officer at the school.
De Foor said Officer Donald Griffin was one of the officers who was sent to SEARK at about 9 a.m. When Griffin arrived, he was told that Jones had fled on foot after the security officer tried to confront him.
Griffin reported seeing a white passenger car parked at a house behind the campus, and when he approached the car, a male later identified as Jones allegedly ran.
De Foor said Griffin tried to use his Taser on Jones, but the prongs hit a backpack Jones was wearing and the chase continued to the parking lot of a business on Miramar Drive, where Jones was arrested.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A small black handgun was allegedly recovered when Jones was arrested Thursday.
He was held on probable cause of fleeing and on an active misdemeanor warrant from Pine Bluff District Court, and De Foor said Jones was being questioned by detectives in reference to the incident the previous day.
In that incident, a campus security officer reported that two men had been involved in an altercation and during the altercation, a handgun was pulled out by one of the men and pointed at the other.
De Foor said both the suspect and the victim had gone when police arrived and attempts to locate the victim were unsuccessful.
According to the report from Officer Sylvester Davis, there were several cameras that recorded the incident.
De Foor said police are still trying to determine if there was a gun involved in the incident Wednesday.
Southeast Arkansas College was locked down Wednesday after the reported disturbance.
SEARK College President Stephen Hilterbran said Wednesday that a person scuffled with another person and took a swing and appeared to have a gun based on footage captured by security cameras. The person who appeared to have the gun apparently left campus immediately, Hilterbran said.
Hilterbran said Wednesday that the college re-opened buildings about 20 to 30 minutes later. At that point, the college sent out this notice at 12:05 p.m.: “30 min. ago a gun was seen at General Studies South. No shots were fired. Partial campus lock down. Lock down is now over.”
Hilterbran said Wednesday that college officials will review how the incident was handled.