MORRILTON, Ark. (KTHV) - Arkansas Ethics Commission chairman, Paul Dumas, is charged with domestic battery according to a Morrilton police report. (PDF)
A passerby saw Susan Dumas bleeding heavily from her face on May 16th and called it in to Morrilton police. When authorities arrived around 9:00 a.m., they found the woman on the front porch bleeding.
Later, they found Paul Dumas upstairs -- arrested him and took him to jail. Susan Dumas told police her husband hit her after the two got into an argument -- and she slapped sunglasses from his face.
Today's THV obtained pictures from Morrilton police that display her injuries -- a significant gash and bruising to her nose. She also had bruising and red marks around her neck.
Morrilton City Attorney Bart Virden says he will not press any more charges.
"It got a little bit out of hand. Nobody else was involved. And she did not want to, does not want to pursue charges. And I confirmed that after the initial discussion with her. We confirmed it again. We treat it just like we do any case like that. There has been, never been a history. My investigation indicates there is no ongoing type problem," says Virden.
According to the police report, on the day of the fight Paul Dumas told police he left his house and when he returned his wife had injured her face in a fall.
THV went by the Dumas Law office to ask for a comment, but he was not there. Dumas' attorney, Ben Caruth, declined to comment.
Since Dumas is the head of the state ethics commission, I reached out to Governor Beebe, but since he did not appoint Dumas, he had no comment.
Legally, charges in a case like this can be filed within one year of the incident, but Virden says -- most of the time in his experience, that does not happen.