Man arrested for biting officer

BATESVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) – A man is being charged with battery in the second degree after biting a Batesville police officer, court documents said.

On Tuesday, Aug. 9, Batesville Police Patrolman Kody Headley was dispatched to Southern Bank on St. Louis Street for reported trespassing.

When Headley got to the bank, employees told him that Cleveland Tidwell had come to the property multiple times throughout the week asking for money from his account.

Employees told Patrolman Headley that Tidwell had no active accounts and had to ask him to leave because he would get “irate with bank employees and cause a disturbance.”

Headley informed Tidwell that if he returned to the bank, he would face a criminal trespass charge.

Later that same morning, Headley was sent back to the bank for Tidwell returning to the property and causing more issues. Before arriving, dispatch told him Tidwell had left.

Headley found Tidwell parked at a gas station only two blocks from Southern Bank and looked to be conversing with a nonexistent passenger.

The Patrolman Strickland and Headley tried to take Tidwell into custody to which he responded, “You are not putting handcuffs on him.”

During the “brief but intense struggle” Tidwell bit Patrolman Headley’s finger hard enough to draw blood, a probable cause affidavit said.

Tidwell is being charged with battery in the second degree, resisting arrest, and criminal trespass.

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