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North Arkansas Police Chief Quits Law Enforcement Forever To Avoid Charges

Bull Shoals Police Chief Daniel Sutterfield is agreeing to resign from law enforcement forever in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping charges of excessive force. Josh Dooley with the Baxter Bulletin says the deal comes after a July trial and as a retrial date in Fayetteville nears.

“A federal jury in Harrison acquitted Mr. Sutterfield on charges of conspiracy and filing a false report in connection with the arrest of Nicholas Dore. They came back with a deadlock on the excessive force charge. Federal prosecutors alleged Mr. Sutterfield tased, kicked, stomped, and threw Mr. Dore after Mr. Dore was handcuffed. Federal prosecutors about a week later announced that they were going to retry Mr. Dore on the excessive force charge. Here we are about three weeks later and they have cut a deal,” said Sutterfield.

Even with Sutterfield and prosecutors agreeing to the deal Dooley said the ordeal is still ongoing

“That deal states that Mr. Sutterfield will immediately resign his position as chief of the Bull Shoals Police Department, that he will give up his Arkansas law enforcement certification, and that he will never serve as a law enforcement officer anywhere again. The motion still has to be accepted by the court. If this goes through it does have implications for the city of Bull Shoals both for law enforcement services and for a civil lawsuit against the city and against Mr. Sutterfield both individually and in his capacity as police chief,” said Dooley.

Extensive coverage can be found at the Baxter Bulletin’s website.

Jacob Kauffman is a former news anchor and reporter for KUAR.
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