Volunteer in drill injured

A flash-bang discharge during a law enforcement training exercise Saturday morning in North Little Rock severely injured a volunteer’s hand, a Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office spokesman said.

Sheriff’s Office deputies were sent about 11:30 a.m. to the Direct Action Resource Center at 6302 E. Valentine Road, where the accident occurred, spokesman Mitch McCoy said.

The injured volunteer was taken to a hospital, where he was undergoing treatment Saturday afternoon, McCoy said. The volunteer’s identity wasn’t immediately released.

The Direct Action Resource Center is a privately owned law enforcement training facility that specializes in tactical urban training, according to the facility’s website. The law enforcement officers training Saturday were all from out of state, McCoy said.

The officers were participating in an anti-terrorism training course scenario in which volunteers posed as residents or other characters, McCoy said. The person injured was a volunteer role-player. His injury was caused by a reloadable diversionary flash-bang, McCoy said.

A flash-bang is a stun grenade that produces a concussion wave and a flash in order to create a diversion, according to Peacem Defense, a company that produces the devices.

The sheriff’s office is not pursuing a criminal investigation, McCoy said.

According to previous reports, the Direct Action Resource Center is a 740-acre training ground for urban combat. It opened in 1996. The company primarily trains police officers, federal agents and members of the military.

Phone calls to Richard Mason, listed as the contact person for the Direct Action Resource Center, were not returned Saturday. Trey Kitchens, an attorney for the center, said late Saturday that “the DARC did not produce this item and did not give it to the person who was using it” referring to the flash-bang.