North Little Rock man accused in shooting death of fireman ordered jailed

Judge says NLR man a ‘safety’ risk, needs hospitalization

Mark Pruitt
Mark Pruitt

A North Little Rock man accused of killing a volunteer firefighter was jailed Monday by court order until he can undergo a mental examination after Pulaski County sheriff's deputies found him in a "dangerous" mental state while talking about shooting the victim and other people.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims ordered Mark Eugene Pruitt, 48, locked up at the request of prosecutors. Sims said he wanted Pruitt held only as long as it takes to get him into the State Hospital.

Pruitt is charged with manslaughter, accused of fatally shooting volunteer firefighter Ronald Jason Adams in January after Adams, responding to an emergency call for medical attention, entered Pruitt's Dortch Loop home.

Adams, who also lived on Dortch Loop, had been sent because he was the closest paramedic available.

Pruitt's lawyers on Monday requested a mental evaluation for the defendant on the basis of police reports of Pruitt acting peculiarly at his home last month. His attorney, Christian Alexander, told the judge that Pruitt had not been taking his medication at the time.

The officers were so concerned about his behavior they had him committed to the State Hospital, where he was held for a week.

According to the reports, deputies were twice called over a 15-hour span by Pruitt to come to his home because of strange people on his property. The first call was at 6 p.m. Sept. 6.

Describing his 12-minute encounter with Pruitt, Deputy Thomas Scruggs reported that the defendant told him two men and a woman had been outside his bedroom window talking since noon but that Pruitt could not find them when he looked for them.

Pruitt said the three people had also been inside his home but he could not explain how they got inside, the report states.

Scruggs could not find anyone, reporting that Pruitt told him he had a gun to protect himself, and twice mentioned shooting the firefighter.

"I'm not playing I have a gun and I'll start shooting people, I've done it before. I shot a firefighter. I'm not playing games," the deputy reported, quoting Pruitt, whom he described as "agitated and anxious."

Scruggs advised Pruitt to call the sheriff's office if he had any more problems rather than shooting. The deputy described Pruitt as a "serious threat to first responders and possibly persons just walking in the neighborhood."

Deputies were sent to the home again about 9 a.m. Sept. 7 when Pruitt called 911 to report that two men and a woman had been on his property then had gone next door to break into his neighbor's shop.

He told dispatchers he had a gun and was watching the trio until deputies arrived, according to the report by Deputy Vernon McNew.

The deputy reported that he arrived at the residence just before Pruitt's wife got there.

She told him that she had either locked up or removed the guns from their home but that Pruitt had somehow found one.

Tonja Pruitt said the pistol should be unloaded because she'd removed the magazine sometime earlier, according to the report.

The deputies found Pruitt on the east side of his property, leaning against a fence and staring at the neighbor's shop.

Asked about the gun, Pruitt showed the officers where he had set it on the ground and they collected the unloaded weapon and returned it to his wife.

He told them that he could see the three people hiding behind some trash cans and described them, the report states.

But Pruitt got upset when McNew said he didn't see anyone there, and told the deputy to get off his property. The officers also talked to the neighbor, who said no one had been trying to break into his shop.

The other deputies -- Lt. Christopher Ameling, Lt. Ted Hasse and Sgt. Bryant Starks -- also tried reasoning with Pruitt but "nothing was working," McNew reported.

"During these conversations, Pruitt would have flashes of anger towards deputies for not seeing the people he was seeing," the report states.

"During a few of these outbursts, Pruitt stated that he would just have to deal with it himself saying he had shot someone before. Ms. Pruitt even tried to calm [him] down and asked him to go see his mental health doctor at Bridgeway [hospital], but [Pruitt] refused and told everyone to leave his property. "

Pruitt even called the state police to remove the officers, the report states. McNew called for paramedics to come to check on Pruitt but when the ambulance arrived, Pruitt refused to cooperate and again yelled at the officers to get off his property.

Deputies restrained Pruitt so the paramedics could give him a shot of the anti-anxiety medication Ativan to calm him down and get him on the ambulance, according to the report, which shows the encounter with officers lasted about 54 minutes.

McNew also had Pruitt committed to the State Hospital, describing him in the Sept. 7 petition as presenting an "extremely high danger ... due to his current mental state."

Court records show he was released Sept. 15 because hospital staff and doctors did not believe he was dangerous so he did not have to be hospitalized any more.

With his sanity in question, Pruitt's trial, which had been scheduled for November, will be delayed indefinitely.

The proceedings cannot move forward until the examination is completed, and the judge has ruled on whether Pruitt is competent to stand trial. It's a process that could take up to a year. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

Pruitt has been in a residential rehabilitation program for the past few weeks since he was discharged from the State Hospital, his attorney told the judge.

But Sims observed that the facility is not secure enough to keep Pruitt from leaving whenever he wants, stating he felt it was his duty to keep Pruitt jailed until he can be hospitalized for his examination.

The judge also said that Pruitt, who did not speak during the hearing, looked ill.

"I'm concerned about the safety of the citizens of this community," Sims said.

Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson asked the judge to lock Pruitt up as a precaution.

He told the judge that since Pruitt wasn't arrested prosecutors have no grounds to have his $10,000 bond revoked. Pruitt was jailed overnight after the shooting before making bail.

Adams volunteered with the East Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department and was a lieutenant for the Sherwood department.

Metro on 10/18/2016

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