[August 18, 2011] Fort Smith Stories Clash In Mayor Dust-Up Tweet Aug 18, 2011 (Times Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Eric Arthur said he wants to take a lie detector test to prove his claim that Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders was the aggressor in an incident Tuesday -- a version of events quite different from the mayor's account. "He assaulted me first," Arthur said Wednesday morning about his confrontation with Sanders after the city Board of Directors meeting Tuesday. "I believe it was definitely intentional. He knows I have a bad back and didn't like what I had to say at the meeting. He got very angry even outside. You can have reasonable disagreements with friends, family or anyone. There's no reason why you have to attack somebody," Arthur said. During the meeting Tuesday, Sanders twice told Arthur he was out of order when he insisted on speaking. Twice, Fort Smith Police Chief Kevin Lindsey approached Arthur to get him to sit down. Sanders told Arthur after the second outburst if he was out of order again, then he would be removed from the meeting. Both times Arthur complained about a technical glitch that was causing low volume levels in the cable telecasting of the board meetings. He said he wanted to let the board and the mayor know about the problem, so it could be corrected before the business of the meeting started. Fort Smith Police Chief Kevin Lindsey said he spoke with Arthur and Jerry and John Hamel in the lobby of the Fort Smith Public Schools Service Center while the directors were in an executive session. "I said, 'I understand you want to communicate to the mayor about the TV volume levels, but understand the mayor runs the meeting,'" he said. "'He's in charge. If he doesn't recognize you, then you need to respect that and go about it a different way.' I tried to reason with him but obviously it didn't work." After the meeting adjourned an hour later, the mayor exited the building and turned right to walk to his car. Arthur said he was talking outside with Ward 1 Director Don Hutchings, Ward 4 Director George Catsavis and the Hamels. Hutchings said the discussion was heated. "Eric Arthur gets in my face and starts to curse me," he said. "I tried to reason with him. I was trying to calm him down. Mayor Sanders walked by me, and Eric said, 'There's the one I want to talk to.' He gets in the mayor's face nose to nose." That's not how Arthur remembers it. "I said, 'Excuse me, Mr. Mayor,'" Arthur said. "I wanted to explain. I wanted to apologize. I didn't want to be a nuisance. ... The people can't hear the programming when you watch it on TV. Before they got into the meeting, I wanted to see if there was a way they could turn the volume up so people could listen. I just wanted to apologize and say I had no hard feelings." He said the mayor was angry, and he was taken aback, then Sanders yelled something at him he couldn't make out. "He came up and body checked me," Arthur said. "I have a bad back. He stuck his chest and stomach out and rammed up and hit me in the front of my body. He knows I have a bad back. ... He did that, and I put my hands up and pushed him away. It was a reaction. I didn't mean for him to fall down. I just pushed him because I didn't want him to do another body check to me. He struck first, and I'm willing to take a lie detector test to that." Arthur told police Sanders hit him with his shoulder when he approached the mayor. He then put his hands up too because he was knocked backward. The next thing he knew Sanders was falling to the ground. Arthur and the Hamels in the report stated they did not know if Sanders' shoulder hit was intentional. The Hamels' account of what happened essentially agrees with Arthur's. Hutchings' account doesn't, but it does agree with Sanders' statement in the police report and to the Times Record on Tuesday night. Sanders said he told Arthur he didn't want to talk to him then and Arthur responded by shoving him, causing him to fall to the ground. Both Lindsey and Hutchings said Arthur never told them before the incident his intention to apologize to the mayor. "I was totally stunned," Hutchings said. "The mayor sat there on the ground for a few seconds looking perplexed like 'What in the world just happened?' It really is so unfortunate." He said he and some other bystanders went to Sanders' aid and helped him inside the Service Center. Police arrived and took statements from Arthur, Sanders and other witnesses. Paramedics checked Sanders over and cleared him to return home. Arthur requested an ambulance, which took him to the hospital where he received some outpatient treatment. "I have degenerating discs," he said. "I have the back of an 80-year-old." At the hospital, he had to be carried in to the facility. After treatment there with pain medication, he had to be carried to bed, too, Arthur said. Sanders issued a written statement Wednesday through City Communications Manager Tracy Winchell. "Thank you to the many people who have called and sent messages of support and concern," he stated. "Other than a sore back and very sore neck I am doing well." Sandi Sanders, the mayor's wife, said Wednesday afternoon that the mayor is scheduled to undergo an MRI scan today on the advice of his physician. To see more of the Times Record or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.swtimes.com. Copyright (c) 2011, Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]