GARFIELD (KFSM) — A Rogers man convicted as a teenager for killing his father was arrested Monday (July 9) after allegedly attacking a Benton County sheriff’s deputy responding to a car crash that injured the man’s daughter and niece.
Justin Wade Trammell, 34, was arrested in connection with aggravated assault, two counts of first-degree battery, three counts of second-degree battery and two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor — all felonies.
Trammell also faces misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated, resisting arrest, reckless driving and obstructing governmental operations.
The deputy was responding to a single car accident on Minch Springs Road, where he found a Ford pickup in a field and two girls crying and rolling around in pain, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The deputy said Trammell was just staring at him and didn’t respond when asked if he was alright. The deputy said he then knelt to tend to the injured girls when he felt Trammell pull on his gun holster.
The deputy knocked Trammell back but Trammell kept reaching for the gun, telling the deputy “I’ve got to get the devil out of me,” according to the affidavit.
The deputy said Trammell refused commands to back up, so he tasered him in the chest, but the man immediately got back up and told the deputy, “I’m Jesus Christ and I have to get rid of the devil.”
The deputy tasered Trammell twice more — each time in the chest — but Trammell was undeterred. A paramedic and Avoca firefighter at the scene helped the deputy wrestle Trammell to the ground and arrest him, according to the affidavit.
Deputies believe Trammell was going about 60 mph when he struck a wood burning stove, truck trailer and large tree stump before crashing through a fence.
Trammell’s daughter and niece were riding in the bed of the pickup and were thrown from the vehicle.
His daughter, 11, was airlifted to a hospital in Springifled, Mo., for a brain bleed and injuries to her rib cage. His niece, 10, was taken to Northwest Regional Medical Center in Bentonville for abrasions to her arms and legs, according to the affidavit.
An update on the girls’ conditions wasn’t immediately available.
Trammell was being held Wednesday (July 11) at the Benton County Jail on a $250,000 bond. He has a hearing set for Aug. 20 in Benton County Circuit Court.
In 1999, when he was 15, Trammell fatally shot his father, Michael Trammell, with a crossbow, according to the Associated Press.
Trammell pleaded guilty in juvenile court to first-degree murder and served nearly three years in a juvenile lockup.
He was released on probation when he turned 18 in 2002.
In 2004, he was sent to a juvenile lockup for violating his probation after two arrests – one on public intoxication, the other on domestic battery. He completed his sentence when he turned 21 on July 4, 2005, the AP reported.
Trammell was the first defendant sentenced under the state’s blended sentencing law, in which a judge can combine juvenile and adult penalties for certain offenses. The law was enacted because only juvenile sentencing was available for the Jonesboro school shooters.
Trammell was later acquitted of a terroristic threatening charge in Washington County, accused of threatening to kill the mother of his child. He also has served jail time for failing to pay child support.
Bentonville police arrested Trammell on drug charges in March 2008. At the time, Trammell was sharing an apartment with convicted school shooter Mitchell Johnson.
In 1998, Johnson, then 13, and Andrew Golden, then 11, opened fire at Jonesboro Westside Middle School, killing four students and a teacher. They served time in juvenile lockup until they turned 18.
