Ex-constable sues 16 over blue-lights arrest

Tom Clowers
Tom Clowers

FAYETTEVILLE -- A former Washington County constable has sued 16 law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors, including Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck, over his 2013 arrest involving the possession of blue lights and a traffic stop that he claims never happened.

Tom Clowers of Springdale contends in a federal lawsuit that he was arrested Jan. 25, 2013, after someone told police that Clowers had blue lights attached to his car and had pulled over the person. Clowers, who is representing himself in the lawsuit, contends the arrest was bogus and defamed him.

The lawsuit does not say what damages Clowers seeks.

Clowers admitted in an October 2013 plea bargain that he had emergency lights on his vehicle but denied that he pulled anyone over in a traffic stop earlier that year. Prosecutors then dropped a charge of first-degree criminal impersonation, a felony.

Clowers was arrested after the Benton County sheriff 's office received a complaint from Chris Snider, who said he was stopped Jan. 18, 2013, and became concerned that the person wasn't a law enforcement officer, according to court documents. Snider said the person who stopped him had emergency lights on his vehicle and wore a jacket with a sewn-on badge. The person left after Snider asked for his identification, according to an affidavit.

Clowers, whose constable term had recently ended, told Circuit Judge Robin Green that his understanding of the law was that a person cannot possess a "blue light" if he intends to do harm. Clowers told Green that the lights had been on the car for more than 12 years.

Clowers said during his court appearance, and in the federal lawsuit, that in regard to the impersonation charge, he never pulled anyone over.

Prosecutors told Green that the impersonation charge was dismissed because the law requires proof of intent to defraud or injure. They said deputies didn't find a citation book, and Clowers didn't draw a weapon in the incident.

Clowers admitted that he had emergency lights that were not sealed in a manufacturer's packaging. Green accepted the plea agreement and Clowers' guilty plea. Clowers was fined $920.

Clowers filed earlier this week to run for a constable position in Washington County.

Clowers says in the lawsuit that he accepted the guilty plea to put the matter behind him, and the matter was later expunged.

Metro on 11/06/2015

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