Sheriff’s files
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record staff
A Garland County man was arrested early Saturday after allegedly attacking his girlfriend, striking her in the face with the butt of a handgun.
Mark David Avant, 50, of 133 Hutzel Loop, was taken into custody at his residence shortly after 1:30 a.m. and charged with third-degree domestic battery, punishable by up to one year in jail.
He was initially held on zero bond, but had bonded out as of Monday morning and is set to appear Dec. 2 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, shortly after 12:30 a.m., GCSD Deputies Clayton Green, Joshua Cannon and Bennie Strickland were dispatched to the residence to a disturbance and were advised by dispatch the female victim, 49, said the suspect had explosives and firearms.
She stated she and the suspect, identified as Avant, whom she had been dating for about 10 months, got into a fight and he struck in the face with a gun.
The victim was reportedly hiding in a room and had locked the suspect out of the house. The report notes in past dealings with Avant he had made threats “to kill any officer that came on his property.”
The deputies staged in the area to make a plan for approaching the residence as Arkansas State Police Trooper Darren Crook arrived to assist. Shortly before 1:30 a.m., the victim told dispatch the suspect had made entry into the house so the officers moved on to the residence.
Minutes later, they made contact with Avant, who was standing in the doorway of the residence, and Strickland ordered him to come away from the door with his hands in the air.
Avant was detained at the scene without incident as deputies made contact with the victim.
She again stated he had hit her in the side of the face with a gun and deputies noted she had a red mark on her face “that would be consistent with what she was saying.”
She stated she had been staying at the residence “off and on.” LifeNet responded and examined her, but she declined to be transported to a hospital.
Avant stated they were at the house together drinking and when he went to take a shower at one point the victim was using his phone. He states she was texting Avant’s “soon to be ex-wife” and all of a sudden she “flipped out.”
He said she locked him out of his own house and then must have called the sheriff’s department. He claimed he “never put a hand on her” and that she was setting him up.
The report notes both the suspect and victim appeared intoxicated and the victim told them she was in fear of him. Avant was taken into custody at that time.
