Update: Complaints Against Trooper Who Arrested News Photographer Released

In a THV follow up, more complaints have been released against an Arkansas State Trooper taken off patrol in December. You many recall, Trooper Tom Weindruch arrested a Maumelle news photographer for taking pictures of a house fire.

There is a file full of complaints, that until recently, were not made available under the Freedom of Information Act. But after an Attorney General's opinion issued earlier this month on an unrelated issue, Today's THV has finally obtained them.

The first complaint is from November of 2004. The latest is photographer Bill Lawson's from December 2007.

One was filed while Weindruch was still in trooper school. It states "he leapt on the front of a vehicle twice slamming his fist down on the vehicle's hood causing two large dents...yanked the driver's door open..injuring the driver."

Another report talks about Trooper Weindruch using unnecessary force during a traffic stop. It says, "without warning he spun me around and pushed me into the hood of the patrol car twisting my leg and injuring my knee."

Another was filed by a 64-year-old lady. She says while being pulled over for speeding, "Trooper Weindruch hollowed and yelled at me the whole time. I was in more danger of getting into an accident after he stopped me because of the way he upset me."

Lawson's complaint states, "Weindruch was threatening and trying to pick a fight."

Now that the other complaints have been made public, Lawson is appalled.

Lawson says, "There were eight other people willing to come forward and if you look at it they all tell the same story. There's a consistency in each one of them which indicates I think there's some truth to what everyone said."

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler declined an on-camera interview, but tells Today?s THV each one of the complaints was investigated. We also contacted Trooper Tom Weindruch at Troop A at the headquarters. He also refused to talk about these complaints filed against him.

Lawson says, "When you read about what those people said about what he did it scares me as a citizen."

Trooper Weindruch has been assigned a desk job while this investigation continues.

Spokesman Bill Sadler says now that an additional complaint has been filed against the trooper, the Colonel will look back at all the complaints in his file.

Charges against photographer Bill Lawson were dropped three days after his arrest.