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Benton Co. inmate dead in custody—days after arrest on robbery, assault charges

Benton County inmate Timothy Plank was found unresponsive in his cell after an arrest where he allegedly requested the officers take his life.

BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A press release from the Benton County Sheriff's Office reports that on the afternoon of February 3, inmate Timothy Plank, 53, was found unresponsive in his cell. Though medical attention was given, he was pronounced dead at NW Medical Center.

The Sheriff's office says that the body of Timothy Plank will be taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab where an autopsy will be performed to determine the circumstance of his death.

Plank was being held at the Benton County Detention Center after his arrest just a few days earlier, wherein an affidavit shows that on the afternoon of Jan. 30, Plank went into the Walgreens pharmacy on West Walnut Street before showing the pharmacists a pistol and demanding oxycodone to commit suicide.

According to the report, Plank left the store after being given a bottle of pills that he immediately took.

Responding officers cornered Plank's truck shortly after this, where he stepped out of the vehicle, and reportedly "held the pistol waist-high," before stating that the officers would have to kill him.

After Plank's pistol reportedly jammed, a scuffle ensued between him and the officers that ended with Plank having fired one round that missed officers, and Plank in handcuffs. 

Plank then allegedly confessed to robbing Walgreens for drugs and planning to drive to the Police Station so officers would kill him there.

The Benton County Sheriff's Office has stated that an investigation has been begun by an Internal Affairs Division into the circumstances around Plank's death in custody.

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