Arkansas woman to stand trial on assault charges in Lawrence County

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·1 min read

May 16—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A woman from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, has been ordered to stand trial on assault charges related to a single-vehicle crash Feb. 27 on an Interstate 44 offramp at Halltown.

Heather R. Cooper, 29, waived a preliminary hearing Monday in Lawrence County Circuit Court on counts of first-degree domestic assault, second-degree assault of an officer and resisting arrest. Associate Judge Don Trotter set Cooper's initial appearance in a trial division for June 13.

A deputy sheriff responding to a report of an apparent vehicle crash on the I-44 offramp for Missouri Highway 96 came upon an assault in progress involving Cooper and a male identified only as "JLH" in a probable-cause affidavit.

The document states that Cooper was biting the victim's face as the deputy arrived and that she pushed his head under some standing water. She purportedly turned on the deputy as he was getting out of his vehicle, tried to slam the door on him and broke out his windshield.

She then threw windshield glass at the deputy and took a shard of glass and tried to cut him, according to the affidavit.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.