Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – A Trumann woman is being held on a $200,000 cash/surety bond after police said she fired a taser at law enforcement officers following a high-speed chase in Jonesboro Tuesday.
According to a probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 3, Arkansas State Trooper Brian Merill was on patrol when he heard a Bay police officer saying there was a vehicle failing to stop while his lights and siren were on. Three Craighead County deputies were also involved.
Trooper Merill joined the chase on East Nettleton Avenue, eventually executing a Tactical Vehicle Intervention (TVI) to force the vehicle to a stop. Merill said the driver, 49-year-old Amanda Ellen Lewis, had the door locked and was talking to Jonesboro dispatch but not following the officers’ commands.
As officers approached the stopped vehicle, they noticed that Lewis was holding a light blue handheld taser. Merrill said she failed to obey the officers’ commands to drop the taser, resulting in one of the deputies breaking the window so they could unlock the door and get her out.
Once the window was broken, Merill said a Jonesboro police officer got into the backseat behind Lewis, where the two officers were able to pin the hand holding the taser to disarm her. While doing so, Lewis fired the taser multiple times in an attempt to tase the officers. However, they were able to pull her from the vehicle and arrest her.
Lewis appeared before Judge Ralph Wilson the next day, who found probable cause to charge her with aggravated assault on a police officer, a Class D felony, and fleeing, a Class A misdemeanor.
Lewis’s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 27.
