By Dave Hughes
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
FORT SMITH, Ark. — Police say three people followed a Fort Smith police officer in a vehicle after his shift ended early Wednesday, and one of them shot at him.
The officer wasn’t hit, according to a news release.
Jonathan Edward Olivarez, 24, and Camilio Martinez, 27, were arrested on charges of attempted capital murder and engaging in a criminal gang enterprise, and were being held without bond. Cara McKnight, 21, was charged with hindering apprehension and was being held Wednesday in lieu of $10,000 bond.
Officer Dayton Leavitt, a five-year veteran on the force, left work in his personal vehicle about 3:45 a.m. Wednesday. At the intersection of Old Greenwood Road and Phoenix Avenue, he noticed a vehicle with three people following his car, a news release said.
Police said Olivarez was driving. The three continued to follow Leavitt for several miles. Leavitt turned onto Moody Road on the city’s east side and pulled into a nearby driveway, then turned his vehicle around, attempting to see the license plate of the trailing vehicle.
The car Leavitt was following turned around and headed west on Moody Road, and Leavitt followed. Then the car turned south on Painter Lane and stopped, the release said. As Leavitt approached in his vehicle, the passenger window came down and three shots were fired from a .357-caliber revolver. One of the shots went through the windshield and out the back window of Leavitt’s car.
Police believe Martinez fired the shots, the release said.
The three fled and Leavitt followed, calling a dispatcher on his cell phone. Officers in marked patrol cars stopped the car at Massard and Louisville roads and arrested the three.
Olivarez also was being held on charges of delivery of methamphetamine and two counts of contempt for failure to pay fines, according to jail records.
Martinez also was being held on failure to answer a summons, jail records stated.
Copyright 2010 Arkansas Democrat Gazette