BENTONVILLE -- Arkansas law requires the county coroner play a part in the arrest of a sheriff.
The seldom-used provision of the law came into play Tuesday when Benton County Sheriff Kelley Cradduck was arrested in connection with tampering with a public record, a felony, and tampering, a misdemeanor.
Coroner Daniel Oxford said he was familiar with the idea he would be involved if the sheriff was arrested, but only generally.
"I've known that that law was always there, but I never really looked into it," Oxford said Tuesday afternoon.
Oxford said he was only at the arrest to make sure all requirements were fulfilled.
"I think they just wanted to make sure all their 't's were crossed and all their 'i's were dotted," he said of the Arkansas State Police troopers. "I was contacted by the Prosecuting Attorney's Office and told that I was to respond to the jail at that time and stand by. I did and did as I was instructed."
Scott Perkins, legislative and communications director with the Association of Arkansas Counties, said state law gives county coroners control of county jails when a sheriff is imprisoned there.
Arkansas Code 12-41-511 states: "The county sheriff may be imprisoned in the jail of his or her own county. For the time the county sheriff shall be confined, the county coroner shall have the custody, rule, keeping, and charge of the jail and shall, by himself or herself and his or her securities, be answerable for the faithful discharge of his or her duties in that office."
Arkansas law has recognized the role of county coroners in relation to legal actions involving sheriffs since the 19th century, according to a 1984 decision by the state Supreme Court.
In a case involving jail inmates trying to recover damages for injuries they claimed they suffered while in the city-county jail at Nashville, Justice George R. Smith noted: "Ever since the Civil Code of 1869 it has been the law that when the sheriff is a party to an action the summons is to be served by the coroner."
NW News on 01/20/2016