Carson Addis
The former Fort Smith police officer who was booked into the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center on Sunday was charged Monday with three felony counts of aggravated assault, as well as misdemeanor public intoxication, disorderly conduct, discharging a firearm within city limits and carrying a weapon after what one witness called a “mental episode.”
Inside Fort Smith reported this morning of the arrest on Sunday afternoon of Carson Addis, who resigned from the FSPD after 11 years on the force in March of 2016 after being charged with driving while intoxicated and refusal to submit to breath test.
Police responding to a disturbance call at Brannon’s Pup and Grill at 2508 Market Trace in Fort Smith encountered the 34-year-old Addis, who was clearly intoxicated, sitting on a motorcycle and holding a gun to his head.
Addis then pointed the gun at at least three officers while attempts were made to talk him down, reportedly by a non-FSPD negotiator.
Because of his intoxicated state, Addis eventually fell asleep and was taken into custody without incident.
Addis, whose arrest steemed from an incident when a number of officers participated in a “party”for SWAT team members in which a lot of alcohol was consumed, had been scheduled to attend a meeting on the day of his 2016 arrest.
When he arrived at the police station for that meeting, he was taken into custody for DWI and immediately resigned from the force.
Addis was also a key figure in the events that led up to the controversial firing of officer Don Paul Bales in 2015. Bales was accused of violating department policy when he blew the whistle on an undercover officer that engaged in a sex act with a prostitute during a sex sting.
Addis was the party that showed Bales and other officers the original arrest report in that case. (See the previous article from last week on Bales winning an appeal from the state supreme court in that case here.
Addis was also suspended in 2007 after shooting a knife-wielding 21 year-old suspect, but an internal investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing and called the shooting justified.
Discrepancies in the booking information listed on the SCADC inmate summary website, which didn’t list the charges or bond information for Addis for the first several hours he was in jail, is typical detention center policy when a suspect is being held for a mental evaluation, which was the case for the former officer.
Addis’ booking information on the website was updated Monday morning.
Five of the charges are keeping him in jail under a no bond order, while the legally sufficient amount set for three other charges is $1,400.
The SCADC records also shows no conviction or sentencing information for the 2016 arrest that led to his resignation from the force.
Inside Fort Smith learned from a third party that the lack of information in that case is due to the fact that Addis’ attorney has filed a number of motions to continue the DWI case.
Dennis W. McCaslin
Dennis McCaslin has been a longtime news and sports reporter for several media outlets in the Fort Smith area. He has also been a well known radio personality and play-by-play announcer for several years prior to joining InsideFortSmith.Com. He is the voice of the ArklahomaSports High School Game of the Week. E-mail: dennis@greatplainsdigital.com
