A former Paris police officer is accused of kneeing a jail inmate in the face, causing facial fractures that required surgery.
Christopher Brownlow, 33, was charged with second-degree battery on Wednesday.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Brownlow, who was an officer at the time, was dropping inmates off at the Logan County jail on Sept. 14 when a man in a cell became loud and "irate" and kicked the door.
A corrections officer requested the inmate be put “in the chair” according to the affidavit, and Brownlow went with another officer to the man’s cell.
The other officer told investigators the man had calmed down and was in bed by the time he and Brownlow arrived.
Brownlow entered the cell, according to the affidavit, and told the inmate he was going to be cuffed and put in the chair. The inmate said he was going to calm down, the document states, but Brownlow then kneed the man in the face “in a diving motion.”
The other officer told investigators he did not ask Brownlow to enter the cell.
Arkansas State Police interviewed the inmate, who was reportedly taken to a local hospital and then transferred to UAMS Medical Center for treatment.
The inmate had multiple fractures around his eye and one in his jaw, and he needed surgery to insert a titanium plate and screws in his face, the affidavit said.
Records from the Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training show Brownlow was dismissed from the Paris Police Department in January.
He has been released from the Logan County jail on $5,000 bond.