On Thursday, September 15, a Mansfield homeowner held an out-of-state fugitive at gunpoint until officers arrived.
Police Chief Wayne Robb, responded to a suspicious person call at the truck stop on Highway 71 in Mansfield around 9 a.m. Robb made contact with the subject, later identified as Bradley L. Johnson of Westville, OK. “I noticed it was the same person that ran from Chief (Joey) Bolin from Hartford two weeks ago,” Robb stated in his incident report. “I also knew that the U.S. Marshals were looking for this person along with his girlfriend. I advised this person that I was going to place handcuffs on him…when I got one cuff on him, …he started fighting with me. He jerked the handcuff out of my hand, cutting my right index finger. I yelled at this person to stop resisting, but he did not…after he broke free, he took off running. I yelled out for him to stop, but he refused. I got into my patrol vehicle and started tracking his movement…”
Robb stated that he finally caught up with Johnson. “Dispatch advised that a homeowner at …Cole Street had the subject on the ground at gunpoint. Upon my arrival at this location, I made contact with the (homeowner) and the subject. Back up arrived and we were able to identify the subject as Bradley L. Johnson.”
Johnson had warrants out of Oklahoma, which included possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction, unlawful possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute as well as 32 misdemeanor warrants. Johnson also had one felony warrant out of Benton County.
Johnson was transported to Baptist Fort Smith after complaining of “heart pain”. Later, he was transported to the Sebastian County Detention Center where he was booked on the warrants. Johnson was charged as a fugitive from justice out of state and was transferred to an outside agency on September 16 at 6:26 p.m.
Robb noted that Chief Bolin intends to file additional charges on Johnson for the incident which took place two weeks earlier in the City of Hartford.
