Arkansas man arrested after threatening security, hospital staff with a knife
JONESBORO, Ark. November 23 2019 Jonesboro police arrested a man accused of threatening hospital staff with a knife.
According to a probable cause affidavit, police were called to St. Bernards Medical Center on Sunday, Nov. 17 due to a man with a knife.
There, the officers saw several security guards and hospital staff standing at the doorway of one of the rooms in the emergency department.
The staff was trying to speak with the suspect, identified as Mack Smith, to get him to drop the knife.
“Smith refused to drop the knife and he kept stating that he was tired of the people trying to hurt him,” the affidavit said.
A nurse told police that Smith threatened to stab them as well.
Hospital staff told police that Smith initially arrived at the hospital complaining of having psychiatric issues.
That’s when Smith was put in a patient room, then pulled a knife out of his pocket and threatened to hurt anyone who came near him.
Officers on the scene began to talk to Smith, asking him to drop the knife and to calm down, but he refused.
He was warned if he did not put down the knife, he would be tased.
Police ultimately tased Smith after he refused to comply with the officers. After that, he began to comply with the officers’ orders.
He was taken to the Craighead County Detention Center after hospital staff checked to see if he was hurt.
On Monday, a judge found probable cause to charge Smith with aggravated assault and set his bond at $3,500. He is due back in court on Dec. 30.
KAIT
