The state of Arkansas is dropping charges against the attorney and father of three whose teeth and jaw were shattered when Arkansas State Police officer Ryan Wingo shot him with a bean bag projectile in 2020.

Prosecutors will drop the misdemeanor charge of obstructing governmental operations as long as Don Cook keeps his nose clean for 60 days. The timer on that started running on Jan. 25, and so far, all is quiet across the street. (Watching two Arkansas State Police officers arrest Cook, my across-the-street neighbor, and walk him to a patrol car while Cook was shoeless and still in his pajamas was what turned us on to this story.)

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Once those 60 days are up, though, you can bet there will still be plenty to talk about. The bean bag projectile Wingo fired during the June 1, 2020, demonstration at the Arkansas Capitol following the murder of George Floyd isn’t meant to be aimed at the torso or head. But the small packet of BBs struck Cook in the jaw. Cook was hospitalized and had multiple surgeries to install screws, a titanium jaw section and tooth implants. Cook filed a request with the Arkansas Claims Commission seeking help paying his medical bills, and the claim is still pending. Notably, Cook was not charged or arrested until after he filed this claim.

Wingo is the only Arkansas State Police officer included on a list maintained by the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney’s office to keep tabs on law enforcement whose testimony might be questioned in court.

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Attorney John F. Johnson with the Pulaski County Prosecutor’s office took pains to be clear this list his office maintains is a different thing than what’s known as a Brady list. Commonly kept by prosecutors and police departments across the country, Brady lists include the names and details of law enforcement officers who have been reported for lying, criminal convictions or anything else that could call their credibility into question. Johnson’s explanation of the Pulaski County list is below:

The only thing to be said about any officer’s name being on our list is that it is a starting point for an inquiry by this office.  There are many different sources of information, including the news media, that cause this office to want to check with a law enforcement agency about the status of a particular officer.  So the fact that someone is on our list doesn’t mean that there has been a finding of wrongdoing, only that this office (in an abundance of caution) is going to check their status before trial.

So why is Wingo on this non-Brady list?

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Cook’s isn’t the only charge of overzealous and dangerous policing Wingo has been accused of.

As we’ve reported previously, a couple in Garland County is suing after Wingo rear-ended them in May 2019. Dashcam footage from Wingo’s vehicle is upsetting. Wingo appears to purposely ram into the back of Charles and Brittany Donners’ car, then pulls Charles Donner out of the driver’s seat and arrests him, ostensibly for cussing. A GoFundMe the couple set up in hopes of raising $20,000 for legal fees has so far brought in $32,256.

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Police watchdog group Audit the Audit posted this dashcam video of the incident with their commentary to YouTube. And David Shuster, a former TV newsman in Arkansas, produced this piece for the Rebel HG YouTube channel. The commentary opines that Wingo is one of the worst troopers in America.

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