LITTLE ROCK — Dr. Joe Thompson, the state’s health officer, is facing a number of charges, including disorderly conduct and attempting to influence a public servant, after an arrest over the weekend, police said Monday.
Thompson, 49, was arrested Saturday night after a confrontation with a security guard on patrol escalated into a shouting match with two Little Rock police officers who were called to his home on Ridgeway.
The police report described Thompson as having a “strong odor of alcohol” and “swaying.”
Thompson was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, attempt to influence a public servant and use of force. He was released from jail Sunday morning after posting a $2,000 bond.
Gov. Mike Beebe’s spokesman Matt DeCample said Monday that the governor was aware of the incident.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Some of us on the staff have talked to him,” DeCample said, adding that Thompson “called us to make sure we knew what had happened.”
“The governor said that he will continue to watch how this proceeds and if the allegations prove true, if it was inappropriate behavior and he will talk to Dr. Thompson about it.”
Thompson is director of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement.
He was named the state’s health officer in 2005 by Gov. Mike Huckabee and he continued that job when Beebe was elected in 2010.
Thompson issued a statement late Monday describing the incident as a “personal matter” and said he plans to continue working until the matter is resolved.
Thompson said he did have a “heated conversation” with the security guard after he saw the man sitting in a car in front of his house using a laptop.
“Concerned that this individual might be attempting to hack into my wireless internet connection, or worse, I asked him who he was and what he was doing in front of my house,” Thompson said. “At the end of the encounter, I went into my home and stayed there until the police knocked on my door, asked me to step outside and placed me under arrest.”
The police report said Thompson confronted the security guard on patrol on the street in front of his house, but never mentioned a laptop computer. The report stated the security guard left the scene and called police, who later went to Thompson’s house.
Thompson, according to the police report, told the officers that the private security guard who had parked in front of his house had trespassed on his property and that they were not allowed in the neighborhood.
The officers said the security guard had not trespassed and during their conversation with Thompson he began yelling in the face of one of the officers.
He told them he worked for Beebe and refused to provide the officers with information for their report, the police report said.
When the officers went to handcuff Thompson there was a scuffle and he fell to the ground, according to the report.
In the police car and at the police department he repeatedly told the officers they were making a mistake because he worked for the governor, according to the report.