A Bull Shoals man alleged to have made threats against police officers and the employees of a Midway manufacturing plant where he worked early this month appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Thirty-three-year-old James McDaniel, Jr., was in court to undergo an 8.1 process. Under the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, an arrested person who is not released in some lawful manner shall be brought before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay to have the charges against him and his rights explained.
The alleged threats triggered a manhunt for McDaniel. The effort to locate and arrest him was launched November 9th and ended with his capture in Marion County November 12th. In the early hours of the effort to apprehend McDaniel, the Bull Shoals City Hall was placed on lockdown as a security precaution.
As the hunt for McDaniel ramped up, law enforcement agencies in surrounding areas were notified to be on the lookout for him and identifying information provided. The general population was also kept up-to-date on the hunt. A tip provided to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office eventually led to McDaniel’s capture.
In the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, it is alleged that, while at work in Midway, McDaniel was reported to have been “acting very agitated and talking to himself.” A manager at the company took McDaniel outside to try to determine what was causing his behavior. McDaniel is reported to have “immediately exploded with rage, yelling at the manager,” threatening to kill people at the plant as well as police and “snitches.”
After raging angrily for a period, the manager said McDaniel walked away toward his vehicle, but turned around and seemed to be returning to where the manager was located. McDaniel repeated the behavior about three times before leaving the plant in his vehicle, according to the affidavit.
According to the manager, another employee at the plant reported McDaniel was alleged to have a .357 magnum pistol in his vehicle.
McDaniel has been in trouble with the law before for displaying intense anger and making threats. Charges filed against him in Baxter and Marion Counties include an early September 2017 attack on his mother at the Bull Shoals residence shared by mother and son.
During that confrontation, McDaniel, who was described as being “visibly intoxicated,” threatened to slit his mother’s throat.
In May, he appeared in Marion County Circuit Court, accepted a plea agreement in the case and was put on probation for six years.
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