A 64-year-old man is facing a felony charge after his neighbor was stabbed during an argument near New Edinburg, leaving the 43-year-old victim with an abdominal wound serious enough to require an airlift to Little Rock for surgery. The stabbing happened Monday, October 19, at a residence on Farm to Market Road.
Cleveland County sheriff’s deputies and investigators responded to the Farm to Market Road address at approximately 5:40 p.m. after receiving a report of a stabbing, according to triarkradio.com. Investigators learned that the victim had been transported by private vehicle to Bradley County Medical Center for treatment of a stab wound to the abdomen before deputies even arrived, per the sheriff’s department.
A witness told authorities that the victim had been arguing with his neighbor, identified as 64-year-old Robert Dale Thompson, when Thompson allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the stomach, as Deltaplex News reported. Authorities said Thompson lived next door to both the victim and the witness who described the confrontation.
Victim Airlifted to Little Rock for Surgery
What started as a stab wound treated locally quickly escalated. The victim was later airlifted from Bradley County Medical Center to a hospital in Little Rock, where he underwent surgery for his injuries.
Investigators recovered a knife at the scene, according to the same account. Thompson was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree battery, a Class B felony.
Sheriff Says No Ongoing Threat
Cleveland County Sheriff Brad Young said there was no ongoing threat to the public following Thompson’s arrest. The investigation remains ongoing, and no further details about a motive for the argument have been released.
The incident adds to a string of recent calls for Cleveland County deputies. In a separate case, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported that a suspect was taken into custody without incident after an armed domestic disturbance in the county’s Rowell community, where deputies and an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission sergeant located the suspect in a wooded area behind the residence before a brief standoff ended in surrender. That suspect was later transported to Jefferson Regional Medical Center for a mental evaluation. It is not established whether that incident is connected to the New Edinburg stabbing, and it should be treated only as a comparable case within the same county.
