Officer faces charge in road confrontation

He faces assault charge in Pocahontas

JONESBORO — A Jonesboro police officer is on paid leave after he was arrested Thursday morning in Pocahontas for running a car off the road and then pointing a pistol at its driver, a Pocahontas police officer said.

Garrett Thomason, 25, was charged with aggravated assault Friday in Randolph County District Court. Thomason, who was hired by the Jonesboro Police Department on July 1, was placed on leave Friday pending an investigation, said Police Department spokesman Paul Holmes.

Holmes said he couldn’t comment further on the case since it is an ongoing internal investigation by the department’s office of professional standards.

According to Pocahontas officer Brian Tilghman, Jesse Baltz, 21, of Pocahontas, called police at 7:13 p.m. Thursday and said a motorist ran him off of Pace Road near the Randolph County sheriff’s office. Baltz told police that the driver of the vehicle pointed a pistol at him. A female passenger in the car then pushed down the driver’s hand holding the weapon.

The motorist then drove away, Baltz said.

Baltz, who recorded the vehicle’s license plate, said he saw the car moments later stopping at a business on Pace Road near Burger King.

Tilghman reported seeing the vehicle on Pace Road near U.S. 67 and stopped it.

“I … asked Garrett Thomason to exit the vehicle and speak with me,” Tilghman wrote in his report. “As Thomason exited the vehicle, I asked him where his firearm was and Thomason raised his shirt and displayed a holstered Glock 9mm.”

Tilghman said the gun was loaded and chambered.

Thomason told Tilghman that a vehicle was following him closely at high speed. He said he pointed at Baltz and then pulled his weapon out and showed it but “did not point it towards them.”

Sarah Stone, 27, of Jonesboro, a passenger in Thomason’s car, told police she saw Thomason pointing the handgun at Baltz but “did not know what was going on.”

Baltz later told police he was going to call authorities and report “a reckless driver” before Thomason pointed his weapon at him.