The charges against a rural Mountain Home man stemming from an alleged altercation with two other males were dropped by the state during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday (October 20).
Forty-four-year-old Chris Allen Brim was initially charged with 1st and 2nd degree battery for an alleged attack on the two men.
Brim was represented by Mountain Home attorney Ben Burnett.
According to prosecutors, a conviction was not likely based on available evidence among several other factors.
The two male victims were involved in a pool tournament at the Rusty Rail Saloon on July 24. They told investigators that the tournament wrapped up about 2 a.m. and the two were walking toward an apartment located next to the Rusty Rail.
One of the men indicated to investigators he was not clear on exactly what happened, but said he was struck by a blunt object and knocked unconscious. He said he woke up hours later on the front porch of the apartment. He said he contacted his daughter and she came to the apartment and took him to Baxter Health.
According to the probable cause affidavit, one of the victims had a long, deep laceration on his head starting near the hairline and ending at his right eye and received six stitches to the inside of the laceration, and nine stitches to the outside of the laceration.
A Baxter County sheriff’s deputy contacted Brim on July 25 and served him with an active warrant stemming from another altercation with at the Rusty Rail.
When he was interviewed, Brim denied playing any part in the attack on the two men.
The second victim of the attack, was questioned and he said about 2 a.m. he had been walking with the second man from the Rusty Rail to an apartment next door.
He said two men approached them “quickly” as they were near the front porch of the apartment and he was knocked unconscious “instantly.”
He told investigators that when he woke up, it was daylight and he was lying in the gravel in front of the apartment.
After a warrant was issued for Brim, a search for him began and took investigators to Brim’s residence and to the Rusty Rail Saloon. He was not found in either place.
As the lawmen were traveling to Salesville to check another location, they saw Brim in a white Dodge Ram pickup truck.
Brim was pulled over just over the bridge at Norfork. As he was being placed in handcuffs, Brim is reported to have asked why he was being arrested.
EXISTING CASE
In an existing criminal case, Brim is charged with barging uninvited into a female’s home where he is alleged to have broken items of personal property and punched a wall.
Brim was arrested and charged with residential burglary, criminal mischief and endangering the welfare of a minor.
In an earlier session of court, Brim pled not guilty to the charges against him. Mountain Home attorney Ben Burnett entered his appearance in the case July 8.
The female victim said the altercation started on the night of June 7 at another location. She said she and her sister were at the Rusty Rail Saloon in Norfork when Brim started messaging and calling her repeatedly.
The two women talked about leaving the bar fearing Brim would show up and “cause an altercation.”
A short time later Brim did show up. He yelled at the two women and was reported to have thrown chairs and other items.
The women told a Baxter County sheriff’s deputy that they left the bar and went to their Firestone Lane residence,
Brim was reported to have showed up at the residence as well. He came inside the house without permission and refused to leave when told to do so by one of the victims.
The victims told Brim there was a young child on the couch, but he reportedly continued to yell and scream and, at one point, punched a wall.
He was also said to have broken a China dining set valued at $1,200 and threw the pieces around the house.
Brim then walked outside and began to rip down flowerpots and, according to the victims, ate some of the flowers.
The victims who remained in the house said they heard banging on the walls and when they looked out, they saw Brim throwing rocks at the residence.
In the initial case, Brim was free on $25,000 bond and has been ordered not to have any contact with the victims.
He has been arrested in the past for participating in violent altercations. His charges in various cases have included being a felon in possession of a weapon, commercial burglary, aggravated assault and terroristic threatening.
In 2022, according to court records, two people petitioned to have orders of protection issued to keep Brim away from them.
The first criminal case on Brim was opened in 1999 and he shows to have been booked into the Baxter County Detention Center 35 times.
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