Victim expected to die, police say

Charges in July beating of Little Rock man likely would be elevated

A Little Rock man who was beaten and left on a city sidewalk late last month is not expected to survive his injuries, according to Little Rock detectives.

Donald Ray Jenkins, 51, suffered a head injury during a July 30 beating and was put on life support after surgery at UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock.

Little Rock Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said Jenkins was taken off life support recently but he is still alive. Doctors have told detectives Jenkins’ condition is “still declining.”

Davis said Thomas Trosper, the man charged Tuesday with first-degree battery in Jenkins’ beating, would likely see those charges elevated if Jenkins dies.

“We don’t know right now,” Davis said. “If he does pass we’ll upgrade that charge ... to [ first- degree] murder.”

Police found Jenkins about 7:11 p.m. lying on a sidewalk outside 2218 S. Brown St. with a swollen left eye, a busted lip and a bleeding head injury.

According to detectives, Jenkins, who appeared intoxicated, didn’t know who he was, where he lived or what had happened.

He told police he thought he had been hit with a whiskey bottle, and when he reached UAMS Medical Center, doctors told police that Jenkins had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

When his condition worsened, homicide detectives joined the investigation and, according to affidavits, a man living across the street from where Jenkins was found told investigators he saw Jenkins and another man walking down South Brown Street, “yelling loudly” and acting intoxicated.

The witness told police he heard one of the men “yelling about being God” and then he heard the other man yell “I’m tired of this s***, I’ve got a knife and gun and I’ll hurt you,” affidavits said.

Another neighborhood witness said she saw a man looming over Jenkins, kicking him in the head, affidavits said.

She watched the man grab something from Jenkins’ hand and continue to walk along South Brown Street toward Asher Avenue, according to the affidavits.

A call to another woman who knew Jenkins said the description of Jenkins’ attacker matched a man she knew as Thomas or “TTrain.”

Multiple witnesses later identified Trosper as the man they saw over Jenkins.

Trosper, 43, of 12127 Gabriel Lane surrendered to detectives at the Little Rock police headquarters, where he was arrested, charged and then transported to the Pulaski County jail.

He pleaded innocent in Little Rock District Court early Wednesday morning, where his bail was set at $500,000.

Trosper remained at the Pulaski County jail Wednesday afternoon.