The commander of Arkansas State Police Troop H resigned Friday after he was charged with asking a pair of undercover police detectives to engage in a sex act while he watched.
A news release from state police headquarters in Little Rock said Capt. Bryan Davis submitted a one-sentence letter to state police Director Col. Bill Bryant that he was resigning from the state police immediately.
Davis, 51, was charged Thursday with misdemeanor loitering after he was arrested by two Fort Smith Street Crime Unit detectives in a parking area at a city riverfront walking trail.
He was released shortly after his arrest and is scheduled to be arraigned in Fort Smith District Court on the Class C misdemeanor charge Sept. 8. A person convicted of loitering could be sentenced to up to 30 days in jail and fined up to $500.
Loitering is defined as unlawfully lingering or remaining in a public place for the purpose of engaging or soliciting another person to engage in prostitution or deviate sexual activity.
Bryant said he was disappointed by the incident that led to Davis' resignation, the news release said.
"However, I believe it is of the utmost importance that we, as law enforcement officers, represent ourselves in an honorable and professional manner, and exhibit higher standards, both in our private lives and in our public duties, exceeding the principles and expectations of others," Bryant said.
Davis has been a state trooper since 1990 and commander of Troop H since May 2014. Troop H covers Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Scott and Sebastian counties.
In a report on his arrest, Davis told Fort Smith police Sgt. Doug Brooks after his release from custody Tuesday he was having trouble at home, saw a couple at a park and said some inappropriate things to them.
Brooks, a longtime friend of Davis who gave him a ride from the police station to state police headquarters in Fort Smith, said in the report Davis was concerned about his job and his marriage.
According to the report, the two detectives, a man and a woman, drove through the trail parking area Tuesday afternoon and saw a red pickup occupied by a man later identified as Davis.
Davis flashed his headlights at the detectives, a common sign of someone wanting to make sexual contact, and continued making contact with the detectives as they pulled out of the lot and drove away, the report said.
They returned to the lot 10 minutes later and Davis was still there. The detectives parked and Davis soon approached. One detective wrote in the report that Davis was wearing a shirt untucked from his dress pants, a tie and sunglasses. He appeared to be aroused, the detective wrote in the report.
As Davis approached, the detectives said, according to the report, "'looks like you're having some fun'" and Davis replied '"I'm thinking about it, what about y'all?'"
The detective responded '"anything freaky'" and Davis said, '"like me watching y'all?'" The detective replied that he was hoping they could watch him, according to the report.
Davis proposed that the couple engage in oral sex while he watched and masturbated, according to the report. When he got into the car, a detective showed him a badge and they arrested him.
State Desk on 09/03/2016