TEXARKANA, Texas–A Texarkana man has been charged with a felony for allegedly assaulting his 79-year-old father in a local nursing facility where he was receiving hospice care.
Jeffery Scott Huggins, 49, who has a history of alcohol-related arrests, reportedly smelled of alcohol when confronted the night of Dec. 8 by a Texarkana Texas Police Department officer in a hallway at Whispering Pines Assisted Living Inn on Elizabeth Street, according to a probable cause affidavit. An employee there called police around 10:30 p.m. after Huggins’ father told her he was fearful of his son.
When an officer arrived, the employee who’d called for help quietly pointed him toward a hallway where Huggins was standing with a cup and a cell phone in his hands. Before arriving, the officer determined that Huggins had an outstanding warrant stemming from a motion to revoke probation he is currently serving for felony driving while intoxicated in Bowie County.
Huggins allegedly struggled with two uniformed officers before being subdued in the nursing home hallway. Huggins’ father allegedly told officers that his son told him he was “ungrateful” before walking to his bed and knocking him in the head with his own head. Officers noted blood on the side of the elderly man’s face.
They also documented a bruise on the man’s arm which allegedly resulted from Huggins punching him. With the help of the employee who called 911, a recording of Huggins allegedly admitting to hitting his father was made before police arrived and shared with the investigating officers.
Bowie County court records show Huggins was placed on a 10-year felony probation for driving while intoxicated, third or more, in October 2020 and a motion to revoke that probation was filed in November.
Huggins faces two to ten years in prison if convicted of injury to an elderly person. He also faces up to a year in the county jail if convicted of misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Huggins’ bonds on the injury to an elderly person and resisting charges total $30,000. However, he can be held without bond on the motion to revoke probation.
