Tear gas, SWAT team used to arrest Texarkana man wanted on protective order warrant

TEXARKANA, Texas — Officers used tear gas and a SWAT team to arrest a Texarkana man who ran into his house Tuesday when police tried to serve him with a felony warrant for repeatedly violating a protective order, the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office said.

Henry Bintliff Pearson, 57, was found in his back yard in the 4200 block of Olive Street on Tuesday, but fled inside when Texarkana, Texas, police made contact with him, according to a news release from Chief Deputy Robby McCarver.

Pearson had fortified his home, including a 6-foot chain-link fence along the curb covered with “no peek” fabric, the release said. The sheriff’s office said Pearson’s behavior toward “certain individuals” had escalated and appeared to grow more concerning each day, and that a protective order had done little to stop it.

Texarkana, Texas, police and sheriff’s office personnel set up a perimeter around the house and made numerous attempts to get Pearson to surrender, but he refused, the release said. Officers introduced tear gas into the house, and the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department’s SWAT team went in and arrested him without further incident.

No one was injured, the sheriff’s office said.

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Pearson was booked into the Bowie County jail Tuesday evening on charges of repeated violation of a protective order and evading arrest. He had not been given a bond as of Wednesday morning, according to the release.

It is not the first time Pearson has been jailed this fall. The sheriff’s office booked him into the Bowie County jail on Sept. 1 on misdemeanor charges of violating a bond or protective order and evading arrest, jail records show.

In Texas, repeated violation of certain court orders or conditions of bond is a third-degree felony, punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Evading arrest on foot is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail.

“We are proud that this incident was resolved without injury to anyone involved,” the sheriff’s office said in the release, which also thanked the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department for providing resources and personnel “for events that strain the abilities of other agencies.”