Fort Smith Mayor assaulted after board meeting

Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders was shoved to the ground in a brief altercation with Eric Arthur, a former candidate for city director and a regular critic of the city.

The tussle happened after Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Fort Smith Board of Directors. The regular meetings are held at the service center of the Fort Smith Public School District.

Sanders told The City Wire that he was immediately confronted by Arthur when leaving the board meeting. Sanders said Arthur was combative and hostile in his tone.

“I said ‘Eric, I’m not going to talk to you right now,’” Sanders said.

(Knowing that there are always two sides to a story, The City Wire will attempt on Wednesday to collect the police report and comments from Eric Arthur on the situation. The City Wire was unable to contact Arthur late Tuesday and a police report was not yet available when the story was posted.)

Sanders said he turned to go in a different direction, and Arthur stayed on his heels. When Sanders turned to tell Arthur again that he would talk to him later, Arthur used both hands to shove the Mayor to the ground.

“He popped me in the chest and knocked me to the ground,” Sanders said.

Sanders said he was shocked and surprised and sat on the ground for a few seconds trying to collect his thoughts.

“I was pretty shaky. … I was not knocked out, but I don’t remember a lot about that (after he was knocked down),” Sanders said.

Sanders said emergency medical technicians took him back inside the service center to check his condition. He said his blood pressure was high, and he stayed at the center until his vital signs returned to normal.

Sanders said City Director Don Hutchings witnessed the incident and gave a report to a Fort Smith police officer. (A call has been placed to Hutchings.)

According to this report from KFSM 5 News, Arthur claims Sanders chest-bumped him first.

Officers say they noticed Sanders was in pain because of the fall. Investigators say Arthur claimed he was injured. Paramedics transported Arthur to the hospital. Police say the mayor did not go to the hospital.

As to what he plans to do about the incident, Sanders said he will “collect his thoughts” Wednesday morning to determine what his options are.

“I do plan to talk to the (Sebastian) county prosecutor (Dan Shue) to see what my options are,” Sanders said when asked if he would file charges against Arthur.

However, Sanders said he was most embarrassed about how this will reflect up Fort Smith, the state’s second largest city.

“I would still like to see our meetings handled in a professional way. I would hate to curtail any of that, but I certainly don’t want this to happen again to me or anyone else for that matter. … I would hate to see one person, or a handful of people, change how we do that,” Sanders said. “That’s why I feel bad for the town, because I don’t people thinking this is how the city is. … Because it really isn’t.”

The Fort Smith Board of Directors has anticipated that problems could arise with some of the more vocal critics of board actions — especially with board enactment of the 1% prepared food tax.

During a June 29 board study session, City Administrator Ray Gosack said the behavior of some citizens at recent meetings, both during the citizens’ forum and after the meetings, has caused some directors to feel threatened.

At the request of directors, Gosack proposed several security measures, including heightening security included installing metal detectors, searching citizens’ hand-held bags, and posting more police officers at meetings.

The directors decided to hold off on enacting security measures.

“If somebody was particularly stubborn,” Sanders said during the June 29 meeting, “we could recess or have an officer take them off, but I don’t want to do that."