Three Conway police officers and a Conway woman sustained minor injuries on Wednesday following an encounter with a combative and allegedly intoxicated man.

Police were dispatched to a residence at June Beene Apartments on Donaghey Avenue after receiving a call about a domestic disturbance. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a white passenger car parked in front of the home with several articles of clothing scattered on the ground around the vehicle.

A 72-year-old male resident of the apartment complex approached an officer and told him that he had been helping a man, identified as John Pyl, 48, of Conway, recover from alcoholism. The man told police Pyl had been living with him for several weeks.

A 49-year-old female resident told police Pyl attacked her by hitting her and biting her on the cheek after consuming “a large amount of whisky.” 

When the male resident asked Pyl to leave the home, he reportedly refused, and instead barricaded himself in an upstairs bedroom with a fourth resident, a 23-year-old Conway woman, who later told police she “did not want to be (in the room), but was trying to counsel Pyl and help him with his problems.”

According to a police report, officers entered the apartment and yelled at Pyl to come out of the bedroom.

Pyl then exited the bedroom, but stopped at the top of the stairs and refused to come down, reportedly yelling, “Y’all are gonna have to come get me,” and “Y’all m************ are gonna hafta shoot me.”

The officers advanced up the stairs towards Pyl, who reportedly kicked the first officer in the chest, causing him to fall down the length of the stairs to the bottom level of the apartment.

A second officer attempted to pull Pyl down the stairs, but Pyl shoved that officer and he fell down the stairs and into the third officer.

When police ascended the stairs a second time, Pyl again kicked an officer, who then, with the help of another officer, grabbed Pyl by the foot and dragged him down the stairs.

According to the report, because of the confined space of the stairwell, Pyl was able to continue to fight and brace himself against both walls to resist officer’s attempts at gaining control and applying handcuffs.

Pyl reportedly fought officers “the entire way down (the stairs),” and onto the ground, where he continued to struggle.

The report says that “likely as the result of his high level of intoxication,” Pyl was extremely resistant to “pain compliance techniques” including pressure points and strikes to “various parts of his body.”

Officers were eventually able to restrain Pyl, who continued to struggle with police even after he was handcuffed.

Pyl reportedly suffered injuries to his face from the fall, including swelling and abrasions. He was transported to Conway Regional Medical Center, where he was evaluated with X-rays and a CT scan before being cleared by medical personnel and transported by police to Faulkner County Detention Center.

According to the report, Pyl repeatedly threatened the life of one of the women, saying “This never would have happened if that b**** hadn’t took my whisky,” and “I’m going to put a bullet in her head.”

Following their tumbles down the stairs, police officers suffered injuries including a twisted thumb, temporary numbness to a right forearm and a headache.

Pyl was cited for third-degree domestic battery, third-degree assault on a family or household member, three counts of second-degree battery and resisting arrest.

(Megan Reynolds is a staff writer and can be reached at 505-1277 or by e-mail at megan.reynolds@thecabin.net. To comment on this story and others, visit www.thecabin.net.)