Shooting scene, Courtesy: KAIT
TRUMANN, Ark. (AP) -- Records obtained by The Associated Press show a man suspected of fatally shooting a police officer during an Arkansas traffic stop was also accused in a 2003 attack on an officer who is now the police chief.
Trumann police released documents to AP after the court closed Thursday that show Jerry Lard was accused of assaulting then-officer Tony Rusher. The documents didn't say if Lard had been convicted in the attack.
Rusher is now the town's police chief. He tells the AP that he was accompanying a social worker for a 2003 welfare check at Lard's home when Lard punched him in the jaw.
Lard is accused in the Tuesday night fatal shooting of Officer Jonathan Schmidt. He hasn't been formally charged but remains in a hospital under police guard.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)