Collapsing ceiling gives away suspect’s hiding place

wireready_07-15-2019-10-30-04_00039_jamesraycolson

The apprehension of a suspect hiding in the attic of his mother’s home was made easier when a ceiling in a bedroom closet collapsed.

According to the probable cause affidavit, a Cotter Police officer on routine patrol in mid-February first spotted 26-year-old James Colson in the rear passenger seat of a vehicle. The officer reported the car turned into an apartment complex along Walnut Hill Lane. When the officer made contact with the people in the vehicle, they reported the rear seat passenger had gone into an apartment to visit his mother.

The officer found Colson had an active warrant and went to the mother’s apartment to apprehend him. The mother first reported her son was not there and gave permission to search the unit. As the mother walked the officer to the back bedroom in an attempt to show her son was not present, the ceiling in her bedroom closet collapsed.

The mother then confessed her son was hiding in the attic. The officer said he saw “fresh insulation” floating in the air.

He reported holding up a “flap of insulation” with a cane and shining a flashlight on his service revolver so it would be visible to anyone in the attic. For a half-hour, the officer ordered Colson to come out of his attic hiding place. Colson did eventually emerge and was arrested. A search of the vehicle Colson had been in revealed a syringe, pipe for smoking methamphetamine and a pink pill described as medication to treat anxiety.

In another case, Colson faces drug-related charges stemming from a traffic stop in Mountain Home in late June. A substance field testing positive for methamphetamine as well as paraphernalia used to ingest the drug were found in the vehicle Colson was driving.

Colson entered not guilty pleas in his new cases.

In February last year, Colson was arrested for stabbing his mother in the arm at her home. When Cotter Police arrived, Colson had fled. He was found barricaded in a bathroom at his residence along U.S. Highway 62/412 West, along with a bottle of vodka.

In that case, Colson was given 12 months probation.

He is due back in circuit court in early August.

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