By Ethan Nahté
A man has been arrested after a series of incidents that ended with a stolen truck damaging a helicopter.
According to a press release from Polk County Sheriff Scott Sawyer, on Monday, March 4, 2024, at approximately 8:55 a.m., Polk County dispatch received a 911 call of a break in at a residence at Heavenly Acres Mobile Home Park on Lisa Way in Mena. Mena Police Department units responded to the residence.
A short time later, Polk County dispatch received a 911 call stating that a suspect had stolen a truck pulling a dump trailer from the parking lot at Southern Disposal. Polk County deputies, Mena Police Department units, and a trooper from the Arkansas State Police all responded to the scene.
While arriving on scene, the stolen truck and trailer were observed crossing Hwy 8 E. and entering onto Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport. The truck drove through a gate and onto the runway.
After driving the length of the runway, the truck turned around and attempted to exit the airport by the Dallas Valley Fire Department where it struck a helicopter parked on the helipad at the USFS flight center. The helicopter, a Bell 407, received major damage as a result of the collision.
Reportedly, some bystanders were afraid the driver of the truck was going to jump out of the cab waving a gun and start shooting. The suspect did not wave a gun but did have a knife.
The police reported the suspect then exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot while brandishing a knife. The suspect, later identified as Brandon Earl Powell, age 39, was arrested without incident by Mena Police Department Officers.
Fred Ogden, airport manager, said he was called somewhere after 9 a.m. and notified of an incident at the airport. Ogden arrived to find that a vehicle had driven through a gate and a damaged Bell 407 helicopter had been damaged in the general area of the tail rotor and vertical stabilizer. Ogden believed the helicopter belonged to one of the forest service contractors for use during the prescribed burns.
“There was a lot of law enforcement when I got there,” Ogden said. “At least three state troopers, Mena Police Department, and the sheriff were there. A sheriff’s deputy was just driving away. The U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer showed up a little later.
“We’re not sure yet how much damage has been done. They moved the helicopter into a hangar to start taking it apart to survey the damage.”
Mena Police Chief Tommy Stueart and Polk County Sheriff Sawyer both wanted to commend the responding officers. “If not for the great work of all the Law Enforcement Agencies involved, this could have been much worse. They all did a great job in stopping and apprehending this dangerous criminal.”
Ogden said, “That impacts that contractor greatly as well as the forest service. It’s not going to be cheap to fix and they’ll probably be sending a mechanic here from somewhere else to fix it. I don’t think anyone here has the right certification to work on that. Plus, it’ll be a loss of time.”
Sheriff Sawyer said, “We are working the truck theft, the Mena Police Department is working the trailer [house] he broke into, and the Arkansas State Police is working the wreck where he hit the helicopter.”
Ogden also was in the process of reporting the incident to the FAA.
***All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.***
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