By Max Brantley
Vilonia Officer Steven Carpenter has been
suspended for an investigation of complaints that he'd harassed a local teen
(allegedly for insulting Carpenter's daughter), roughly handled and threatened
to Tase the teen's father, and ordered the teen out of a public subdivision. In
one encounter with the teen, Carpenter used the pretext of a suspended license
stop to search his vehicle to turn up a leafy substance. In that encounter, the
teen reportedly kicked out the window of Carpenter's patrol car while Carpenter
struggled with the teen's father.
The family dispute isn't the only
investigation.
According to a report taken by FCSO on July 14,
the woman claims Carpenter stopped a car she was riding in that morning for a
burned-out taillight and asked her and the driver questions about the driver’s
boyfriend before ordering her out of the car and fondling her crotch during a
pat-down search for weapons. Carpenter told the driver that if she left the
scene of the traffic stop he would arrest her for fleeing, and came and went
several times in a stop that lasted more than an hour.
... The driver of this car also reported that
on July 15 she waved at Carpenter, who arrested her and cited her for
disorderly conduct, claiming that she’d made an obscene hand gesture.
The local prosecutor and the State Police have
been asked to review the complaints.
