FORT SMITH -- A former Paris police officer has been sentenced for kneeing a jail inmate in the face last year.
Christopher Munoz Brownlow, 33, of Clarksville was sentenced to four years probation in Logan County Circuit Court on Friday after entering a negotiated guilty plea to one charge of second-degree battery, a Class D felony, according to court records available on the Administrative Office of the Courts' CourtConnect website.
The sentencing order states that Brownlow was ordered to pay $150 in court costs, a $1,500 fine, a $250 DNA sample fee, a $50 warrant fee and a $40 booking fee. He is to make monthly payments of $50, in addition to a $10 administration fee, starting on Nov. 20.
The order also states that Brownlow would surrender his law enforcement certification upon conviction.
The lawyer representing Brownlow, Russell Wood of Russellville, commented by telephone Tuesday that Brownlow is happy to put this "unfortunate incident" behind him, and looks forward to completing his probation and seeking an expungement.
Brownlow had been charged with second-degree battery on Feb. 19. He had been arrested by the Arkansas State Police agency on Feb. 18, and had been released from the Logan County jail on a $5,000 bond.
A probable-cause affidavit states Brownlow was dropping off inmates at the Logan County jail on Sept. 14, 2019 when a man in a cell became "irate," yelling and kicking the door. A detention officer requested that this inmate be put "in the chair," and Brownlow and another officer went into the man's cell.
The other officer told investigators that the man had calmed down and was lying on his cot by the time he and Brownlow arrived.
After Brownlow went into the cell, the affidavit states, he told the inmate that he needed to stand up and that he was going to be cuffed and put in the chair. The inmate said he was going to calm down, after which Brownlow kneed the man in the left side of his face "in a diving motion." The other officer told investigators that he did not ask Brownlow to enter the man's cell.
State police investigators interviewed the inmate, who was taken to a hospital in Paris and then to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock. The affidavit states that he had several fractures around his eye and another in his jaw, and had to have surgery to insert a titanium plate and screws in his face.
Paris Police Chief John O'Brien said Feb. 20 that he received word on the morning of Sept. 15 that an incident had taken place at the Logan County jail between an inmate and Brownlow. He personally conducted a brief investigation that day, and placed Brownlow on administrative leave based on that investigation. He then contacted Prosecuting Attorney Tom Tatum II, and asked him to request that the state police investigate the incident.
O'Brien said he terminated Brownlow's employment on Jan. 6 after several months of waiting and "not hearing anything one way or the other."
Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training records show that, before his dismissal, Brownlow had been a full-time patrolman in Paris since April 8, 2019. Brownlow also has worked for the Pope County and Johnson County sheriff's offices during his career.
Brownlow requested that the Logan County Circuit Court enter an innocent plea to his second-degree battery charge in a waiver of arraignment filed March 11 by Wood. On March 13, Judge Jerry Don Ramey set May 8 as the date for Brownlow's pretrial hearing and May 29 as the date for his jury trial.
An order of continuance filed May 29 continued the matter from that day to Sept. 11 for a pretrial hearing and Friday for a jury trial. Brownlow's waiver of jury and guilty-plea statement, as well as his sentencing order and conditions of probation, were filed on Friday.
Information for this article was contributed by Nyssa Kruse of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.