A Texarkana Arkansas police officer received injuries from being attacked by teens with fireworks, so severe that surgery was required, and another five officers were also injured in the attack on July 4, 2022. Here is what we know, and what we don’t.
UPDATE: Though some first responders disagree with this release, here is the official PRESS RELEASE.
Witness reports and statements from those wishing to remain anonymous…
Texarkana Arkansas Police, along with TAFD and EMS were responding to a call near Preston and Washington Streets when they came under attack from mortar shells. The attack was so severe that one officer was hospitalized and required surgery on Tuesday. The other officers were treated and reported back to duty. A tactical response with less than lethal armaments was being planned before the commanding officer pulled the plug and decided to just move along as though nothing happened.
Another trusted source described the scene as a “warzone” with an estimated group of a couple of hundred teens in the area, unsupervised and firing high-powered mortar-type fireworks at people, cars, and houses. There were two different attacks that caused serious injuries. The first was a medical call to an elderly resident that was injured when his home was attacked with fireworks. In that call, five officers were seriously injured, with one requiring surgery on her upper leg. The second attack occurred as Firefighters and police working to battle brush fires in the area were also attacked with fireworks. Injuries include concussions, burns, hearing loss
We are withholding the names of the injured officers and firefighters to give officials the chance to do it. We are just guessing at this point but expect that a press release will be coming out later today, July 6.
The residents of Preston, Washington, and neighboring streets in that area are furious. The chaos has been getting worse year after year. Police want to help the citizens, and the Fire Fighters want to help the citizens… but how?
We have requested information on the incident, including bodycam footage from TAPD and the Office of the City Manager. We will post all of the details that officials provide to us on this case.
Now, this is not the kind of news we do, usually, the press release comes and we share it. However, while working on the issues of fireworks in this neighborhood over the last decade we stumbled into this incident this year, and frankly was shocked to see nothing on the “news sites”… so we post it, then they will write about it… then again, there was recently a good investigative news story on the vanity fair website the other day…
