CRAWFORD COUNTY, Ark. — (KFSM) — Five people are facing charges of inciting a riot after a fight in the Crawford County Detention Center on Friday night, March 8.
Crawford County Sheriff Ron Brown revealed details of a riot that took placed in Cell Block G of the Crawford County Detention Center on Friday night.
Brown said five people were charged with inciting a riot, a class D felony. Joshua Estes was the "main instigator" who resisted then told the others to "pop it off," Brown said. Others charged include Dylan Flurry, James Thompson, Steven Huffstetler and Taylor Johnson.
Deputies were trying to remove an Arkansas Department of Correction inmate who "violated the rules and regulations of the jail," when he resisted being moved and started yelling at other inmates. Brown said the inmate was "disorderly" and resisted instructions, including wearing a jail uniform and getting his personal belongings. Brown said he said, at least in a cleaned-up version, to "pop it off." Shortly after that, inmates wet toilet paper and put it on three of the security cameras simultaneously.
The destruction included tearing out ceiling tiles and lights and popped off a sprinkler head, which made it difficult for deputies to respond until the water was turned off, Brown said. He also said they lost about 16 mattresses. He said they had to bring in a plumber, an electrician and an IT technician to repair the damage.
Brown said once law enforcement entered the pod, the inmates surrendered, so no deputies were hurt.
"They never tried to break free. This was just destruction and chaos for the jail staff," Brown said.
He said they had to move the other inmates to the exercise yard while the situation was put under control and the area was cleaned up.
The incident started at about 7:30 p.m. and ended at about 1 a.m. Saturday, Brown said.
Brown said they only had five deputies on staff at the time, but they called in other deputies as well as help from outside agencies.
Several law enforcement agencies responded to the riot, which involved 39 inmates, Brown said. Inmates were forced outside after 12 pods were flooded.
The riot cost at least $15,000-$20,000 in damage, Brown said. No officers or inmates were injured.
There were 225 inmates in the detention center at the time, and 40 in the pod where the fight took place, Brown said.
Brown said this was the first fight of this magnitude in the new facility, which opened in November 2016.
The Van Buren Police Department, K9 unit, Arkansas Highway Police, Arkansas State Police, Kibler Police Department and Mountainburg Police were called to assist.