Sheriff’s files
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record staff
A local woman had to be tased by a Garland County Sheriff ’s deputy early Thursday after allegedly causing a disturbance and attempting to flee.
Kelsi McKay Burns, 21, who lists an address of 101 Haymaker Place, Apt. B, was taken into custody shortly before 8 a.m. and later charged with misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, fleeing on foot, criminal impersonation and resisting arrest, punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.
She was initially taken to Mercy Hospital Hot Springs to be evaluated and was later booked into the detention center shortly before 12:30 p.m. where she remained in custody Monday in lieu of $3,500 bond. She is set to appear Aug. 21 in Garland County District Court.
According to reports, GCSD Deputy Joey Pate was dispatched to Serendipity Cove, located on Lake Hamilton in the area of Amity Road, shortly after 7:30 a.m. to check on a disorderly white female who was allegedly banging on residents’ front doors and jumping on vehicles.
When Pate arrived, he noticed a woman, later identified as Burns, by the lake standing on a pontoon boat. When she apparently noticed the deputy she ran off the boat and across the yard.
Pate caught up to her and told her to stop several times. She allegedly stopped and tried to strike the deputy, who was able to block several punches and then backed up and pulled out his taser.
He warned her he would tase her and she began to run away. Pate states he told her repeatedly to stop or he would tase her, but she refused so he finally tased her, knocking her to the ground.
The suspect lay on the ground screaming and yelling even after the taser stopped, and when Pate asked her for her name she just continued yelling at him.
She finally gave him a name, but dispatch could not find any information, so he asked her again and she gave a different name. Dispatch sent a photo of the woman she named and it didn’t match.
LifeNet personnel arrived and tried to treat her for some scratches to her knees, but she began fighting with them so the deputy had to use minimal force to get her handcuffed.
She continued to fight as they took her to the ambulance, so they had to strap her down. She was taken to the hospital and eventually identified as Burns.
