FAYETTEVILLE -- A man accused of dragging a Tontitown police officer with his pickup in December of last year pleaded guilty Thursday to battery and fleeing.
Eddie Lee Marchant, 55, of 34 Richway Ave. in Eureka Springs pleaded guilty in Washington County Circuit Court to second-degree battery and fleeing, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated.
Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay sentenced Marchant to six years at the Arkansas Department of Correction with one year suspended.
Tontitown police officers responded early Dec. 30, 2018, to a report of an intoxicated man urinating in public.
An officer was approaching the truck the man was in when he sped away.
The officer's equipment got snagged on the truck, and he was dragged about 70 feet before falling to the ground, according to police.
Then, the pickup ran over the officer, who was treated at a hospital and released.
The pickup was traced to a home in Springdale where Marchant was arrested.
NW News on 12/07/2019