LR man arrested for allegedly smashing windows
A Little Rock man was arrested Wednesday morning on a felony mischief charge after allegedly smashing the front windows at a local business and the windshield of an employee’s vehicle.
Chira Najar Hughes, 39, who lists a Little Rock address, was taken into custody shortly before 9 a.m. and charged with a felony count of first-degree criminal mischief, punishable by up to six years in prison. He remained in custody Thursday in lieu of a $2,500 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to court records, Hughes has two separate felony charges of second-degree battery pending in Pulaski County Circuit Court stemming from arrests on June 10, 2020, and Jan. 28, 2021, with a mental evaluation hearing set for Sept. 12. He also has a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge pending in district court here from an arrest on Monday.
According to the probable cause affidavit, around 8:45 a.m. Wednesday, Hot Springs police Officer Nathan Thomas responded to Coleman’s Rocks-R-Gems, 1400 E. Grand Ave., regarding a criminal mischief incident.
Thomas saw a black Chevy Tahoe in the front parking lot with its windshield smashed in multiple locations and a cinder block resting on the hood when he arrived. Thomas also noted three of the double-pane front windows of the business had been smashed out and one smaller pane was also damaged.
He spoke to the female caller, who stated she had seen a Black male standing in the front driveway of the business staring at her. She said she told the man the store wasn’t open yet and returned inside, locking the door.
She said the man, later reportedly identified as Hughes, approached the front door and began yelling about “how the business belonged to him.” She said he then picked up a cinder block which was kept near the front of the business to prop the door open and began throwing it against the windows.
She stated she fled to the back office to phone police and could observe the man on the store’s security cameras continuing to “smash out” the windows of the business before he finally left the property on foot.
Officers located Hughes down the street in the 1500 block of East Grand and detained him. The woman from Coleman’s was driven by the scene and reportedly identified Hughes as the man she had seen vandalizing the business so he was taken into custody.
The affidavit notes the total damages to the business and vehicle was estimated at $2,591.