1 charged following stabbing incident

wireready_02-07-2020-10-24-02_00028_stabbing

Izard County authorities have arrested 20-year-old Jesse Daniel Hope of Ash Flat following a reported stabbing incident Tuesday evening.According to the probable cause report, law enforcement was alerted when five male subjects were reported in the Ash Flat emergency room, with one having been stabbed and not “doing well.”

The victim was then transferred to White River Medical Center in Batesville “because he was losing blood.”

The stabbing incident reportedly occurred as the group was backroading and a fight broke out between Hope and the victim along Zion Road in Izard County.

When Hope was interviewed he displayed injuries to an index finger and an eye.

Hope told law enforcement the two men had agreed to fight, and it was “fair and square.”

He said the knife used in the stabbing could still be at the scene of the fight, saying he believes it may have fallen out when the victim was being loaded into a truck.

The victim reportedly sustained multiple stab wounds.

Hope has been charged with felony first-degree battery, with bond set at $20,000.

Online court documents indicate Hope has an open case in Sharp County where he faces three felony counts of aggravated assault and a single count of fleeing, as well as a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief.

The charges stem from an incident in the early morning hours of March 22, 2019.

The Sharp County Sheriff’s Department received a call advising a vehicle had driven into the front of a convenience store in Highland causing extensive damage and crushing a propane tank.

An employee of the store advised the driver, later identified as Hope, backed the vehicle after crashing into the business and left the scene.

Law enforcement determined the vehicle was leaking coolant due to the crash. An officer followed the trail of the leaking coolant for about a quarter of a mile. He observed the truck had traveled off the roadway, through a fence and back onto the roadway.

Officers from the Hardy Police Department and the Sharp County Sheriff’s Department later observed a truck at another convenience store with extensive front end damage, similar to the one officers were searching for.

A pursuit ensued, with the driver failing to yield and the vehicle reportedly traveling erratically, weaving between the lanes and onto the shoulder.

During the pursuit, the truck crashed into a fence and returned to the roadway.

The pursuit continued onto U.S. Highway 62\412, with the truck crossing into the oncoming lane nearly hitting another vehicle head-on.

As a 10-minute pursuit continued, it was noted the front bumper of the vehicle was damaged, causing it to hit the right front tire, making it difficult to steer.

When the truck stopped, patrol units were used to block it in the front and rear.

As officers approached the truck, Hope reportedly placed the vehicle in reverse and began spinning the tires, pushing the Highland Police Department patrol unit out of its way.

The truck was steered toward a Highland officer, leading him to fire his handgun in the driver’s direction, striking the rear edge of the passenger side door and post.

As Hope continued efforts to free his vehicle, the officer fire his weapon three times in the driver’s direction through the front passenger door glass.

Hope was struck in the upper torso and through the right shoulder.

Officers had to break the glass to unlock the vehicle door and remove Hope from the truck. He was transported by ambulance to a Jonesboro hospital for treatment of non-life threatening inquires and released four days later. The officers were not injured.

WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI