Jailer reportedly beaten by youth

A Jefferson County juvenile detention captain suffered a fractured skull and internal bleeding in his head after a prisoner beat him Tuesday, the county sheriff’s office said.

Emergency officials took William Smithwick, 59, a 19-year veteran of the Jack Jones Juvenile Justice Center, to Jefferson Regional Medical Center. He was later airlifted to a Little Rock hospital after his condition worsened, said Maj. Lafayette Woods Jr., operation commander and public information officer for the Jefferson County sheriff’s office. He added he was still waiting to hear on Smithwick’s condition.

“We’re praying that he will overcome this,” Woods said.

The suspect — whose name was not released because of his age — was being housed at the detention center for the Department of Youth Services in Alexander.

Woods did not know the boy’s age or why he was under the watch of Youth Services late Tuesday.

About 2:15 p.m., Smithwick had found a sharp object in the boy’s cell, Woods said. The captain overheard the boy threatening to harm himself, prompting Smithwick to call Youth Services and enter the cell, according to the sheriff’s office.

He began changing out the boy’s uniforms, a standard procedure for inmates threatening harm to themselves, when the boy started punching Smithwick in the face, Woods said. The captain tried leaving the cell, but the boy kept after him, punching Smithwick in the face and on the back of his head, Woods said.

Officers saw the attack on camera and rushed to Smithwick’s aid.

The sheriff’s office is investigating the attack, which could lead to a charge of second-degree battery. A prosecutor can change the charge if Smithwick’s condition changes.

Juvenile detention officer Leonard Wall, 58, died in 2010 after he was severely beaten by three youths during bed checks at the youth facility, the sheriff’s office said. The three took his keys and escaped, stealing a car from a nearby gas station.

They also attacked an officer checking on Wall; she escaped with non-life threatening injuries.

All three were charged with capital murder.