Man accused of assaulting female, attempting to run from authorities

Kenneth Skillings (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)

A man is accused of attacking a female at a Lakeview residence and attempting to elude authorities. Forty-seven-year-old Kenneth Skillings was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center during the early morning hours of Feb. 8 and released nearly 18 hours later on a bond of $1,550.

According to the incident report, Baxter County 911 dispatch advised of the incident on Arkansas Highway 178 West. Dispatch stated the caller stepped out of the residence because if the attacker, identified as Skillings, knew she called 911, he would attempt to flee.

A deputy arrived and made contact with the victim on the front porch. She stated Skillings was running to the back door, but the deputy never saw him exit while he was standing there. The deputy later heard a “loud crashing noise” inside the residence, and the victim said he was then in the bedroom.

The deputy returned to the front of the residence when he heard something behind a trailer. The deputy then observed Skillings allegedly running from the residence. The deputy chased Skillings on foot, and his commands to stop were repeatedly ignored. Skillings reportedly stopped running when the deputy caught up to him.

Skillings repeatedly refused the command to get on the ground, and the deputy forced him down and placed him in the restraints. Skillings was then put in the back of the patrol unit as another deputy arrived.

Both deputies later spoke with the female as paramedics arrived. The left side of her face was reportedly red and swollen, and she also had a bruise under the left side of her lip and red marks on her throat.

The victim stated she and Skillings had been drinking, and a verbal altercation began. Skillings had allegedly slapped her, and she threw a salsa jar that hit him in the head. Skillings then reportedly started assaulting the female. The victim agreed to fill out a statement, and the only thing she wrote was that Skillings hit her.

Skillings refused to tell authorities what had occurred. He was transported to the detention center, where he refused to take a portable breath test. The only thing he reportedly said to the deputy and the jail staff was that he was “hammered drunk.”

Skillings is facing charges of third-degree domestic battery, fleeing on foot, resisting arrest and public intoxication.

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