A Springdale man is in jail facing a manslaughter charge after police say he punched another man in the face outside the Electric Cowboy bar in Fayetteville.
Steven Hall, 33, was booked into the Washington County Detention Center early Monday (May 13) and was released the same day on $50,000 bond. He has an arraignment set for June 14.
The victim, 41-year-old Robert Dale Clark, of Springdale, was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Mo., where he was pronounced dead after sustaining a severe brain injury, according to a preliminary arrest report from the Washington County prosecuting attorney.
Police said Hall, who is listed on the Sheriff's Office website as 6-foot-2, 271 pounds, punched the man once in the jaw outside the bar on Martin Luther King Boulevard just before midnight on Saturday.
Clark, who weighed 100 pounds less than Hall, was knocked off his feet and fell back after being punched, hitting his head on the concrete "with significant force due to the punch," according to the report.
Hall left the site but, after being phoned by police, conceded he had gotten into a fight at the bar, the report states. Hall initially told police the victim threw a punch, but he later told investigators that was not the case. Hall said he hit Clark first because he believed the man was going to strike him, according to the report.
The Clark's girlfriend told investigators she and her boyfriend had been arguing outside the bar when Hall approached, according to the report. Heated words were exchanged between Hall and the victim, who was then knocked unconscious, the report states.
Hall was confronted by the bar's security personnel, but he ran north past a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and hid until he called friends, who came and picked him up, according to the report.
Clark was taken first by Central EMS to Washington Regional Medical Center and then was flown Springfield, Mo., the report states.
A memorial fund for Robert Clark has been set up at Liberty Bank of Arkansas, according to a family member. Donations will go toward funeral expenses and to provide for Clark's 8-year-old daughter.