Craighead County inmate dies in custody

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) - The sheriff’s office is investigating the death of a Craighead County inmate.

The Jonesboro Police Department received a call to a domestic disturbance in the 2000 block of Red Wolf Boulevard around 1:30 a.m. Friday, May 12.

Police said when they arrived, they found 60-year-old Timothy Wade Williams in his car, refusing to get out.

According to an incident report, Williams became aggravated and resisted arrest.

As officers attempted to handcuff him, the report stated he became “even more aggravated.”

“While resisting myself and Officer Vanhouten, I assisted [Williams] to the ground in order to get an advantage to place him in custody,” Officer Lance McGinnis stated in his report. “[Williams] still resisted while on the ground.”

After getting Williams handcuffed, McGinnis said EMS checked him out then checked out Williams but did not take him to the hospital.

Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd told K8 news Williams was charged with resisting arrest, public intoxication, obstruction of governmental Justice, and disorderly conduct. The report by JPD also listed third-degree battery as a charge.

Online jail records show Williams was booked into the Craighead County Detention Center around 2:10 a.m. Friday. By Wednesday morning, he was dead.

“Something happened, and we just want to know,” said Williams’ niece, Meghan Benson. “In order for us to be able to get any closure for this situation we are going to need those answers. We are going to need to know what really happened.”

Boyd said deputies were alerted to a medical emergency in the jail Wednesday morning. An ambulance took Williams to a local hospital where a doctor pronounced him dead at 6:50 a.m.

Benson said the family of Williams’ cellmate reached out to her about their concerns.

“And asked them to call us because my uncle had been extremely sick for the past three days, he said he was bleeding out, and he was pleading for the officers to send him to the hospital. He said no one ever came,” she said. “Of course, whenever I questioned that, the detective said there were no nurse orders put in for my uncle the whole entire time he was here.”

The Craighead County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident.

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