Sheriff’s reports say Griffin prevented his wife from leaving their home; Griffin alleges deputies omitted exculpatory statements and arrested him after a supervisor declined to authorize it.
JONESBORO, Ark. — A federal civil rights lawsuit accuses Craighead County sheriff’s deputies of arresting a man inside his home without probable cause and county officials of later concealing or failing to preserve body-camera evidence. County officials had not yet responded to the complaintas of this report.
Devin Zayne Griffin filed the 33-page lawsuit June 17 in the Jonesboro Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin is representing himself.
See More: Federal Complaint
The lawsuit concerns Griffin’s June 17, 2023, arrest following two domestic-disturbance calls involving Griffin and his wife. Craighead County Sheriff’s Office reports obtained by NEA Report provide the department’s account of the calls, while Griffin’s complaint relies heavily on body-camera footage that he claims contradicts portions of the official narrative.
The defendants are Craighead County and current or former sheriff’s office personnel Connor Richardson, Levi Chism, Moisses Arellano, David McCarthy, Jordan Drum, Jason Allen, Starleigh Richardson and retired Capt. Ron Richardson. No records showed that the defendants have been served.
Arellano, who was a Craighead County deputy when the alleged events occurred, later became an Arkansas State Police trooper. He is also the defendant in a separate federal civil rights lawsuit filed Aug. 10 by Alisa Hackett, the 18-year-old shown on video being taken to the ground and punched in the face during a traffic stop near Manila.
The cases involve separate and unrelated incidents.
First Domestic-Disturbance Report
The first sheriff’s office report was filed June 16, 2023, after Drum was dispatched to speak with Griffin’s wife about an alleged domestic disturbance at their home.
The report says the woman told Drum that Griffin, whom she had been with for 10 years, got in her face and began yelling and cursing. According to the report, she said she feared Griffin was going to physically injure her because he had done so previously.
The report classified the allegation as third-degree assault but documented no current injury. Drum wrote that photographs of alleged past injuries, a lethality screening and a victim-witness statement would be attached. Those materials were not included with the reports obtained by NEA Report.
A supplemental narrative entered June 19 by Ron Richardson states that he spoke with the woman by telephone and advised her that she could file an affidavit seeking criminal charges and apply for an order of protection.
The report does not document an arrest resulting from the June 16 call.
Sheriff’s Office Account of Griffin’s Arrest
A second disturbance was reported June 17.
Chism wrote that he was dispatched at approximately 3:50 p.m. and arrived after other deputies had already reached the home and detained Griffin.
According to Chism’s report, Griffin’s wife said they had been arguing since the previous day over text messages she received from a childhood friend. She stayed at a hotel after the first disturbance but returned home the following day.
The woman told Chism that Griffin was cordial during the first hour after she returned, although he had been drinking, according to the report. She said Griffin later became irate, yelled in her face, placed his hands in front of her face and told her she could not leave.
The report says the woman gathered her belongings and attempted to leave, but Griffin blocked the doorway and took her possessions. She allegedly told Chism she feared Griffin would physically harm her and prevent her from leaving.
Griffin told Chism that the couple had been arguing because he believed his wife was cheating on him, according to the report. Griffin acknowledged being extremely upset but denied becoming physical with her.
Chism arrested Griffin at approximately 5:04 p.m. on suspicion of third-degree assault on a family or household member and second-degree false imprisonment. The report classified both allegations as misdemeanors, listed Griffin as unarmed and documented no injury to the woman.
Griffin was held for approximately two days. Prosecutors dismissed both criminal cases Dec. 12, 2023.
Lawsuit Disputes Official Narrative
Griffin’s lawsuit presents a different account of how the detention and arrest unfolded.
The complaint alleges Griffin’s wife repeatedly told deputies that he had not placed his hands on her. It also claims she acknowledged drinking and told Deputy Connor Richardson, “I did have my hands on him,” while explaining that Griffin had begun taking her belongings.
Griffin alleges deputies entered his home, questioned him and refused to allow him to leave the kitchen. Richardson then went outside and called a supervisor seeking authorization to arrest Griffin for third-degree assault, the complaint states. But the lawsuit claims Richardson did not tell the supervisor about the woman’s statements concerning her drinking and physical contact with Griffin.
According to the complaint, the supervisor, Taylor Iglehart, declined to authorize the arrest. Seconds after the telephone call, Richardson allegedly turned to McCarthy and said, “I want to arrest this mother fu**er so bad.”
Richardson then allegedly told Griffin’s wife that Griffin would not be arrested because she had no visible marks and advised her to file an affidavit the following morning.
The sheriff’s office reports obtained by NEA Report do not mention the alleged telephone call, the supervisor’s decision or the woman’s alleged admission that she placed her hands on Griffin.
They do, however, document her allegation that Griffin blocked the doorway, took her possessions and caused her to fear that he would physically harm her.
Arellano Accused of Handcuffing Griffin
The lawsuit alleges Arellano and Drum remained inside with Griffin while Richardson spoke with other deputies outside.
During that time, Arellano allegedly threatened Griffin with an obstruction charge and placed him in handcuffs. When Griffin challenged the detention, Arellano allegedly responded, “I don’t need a reason to detain you.”
Griffin claims body-camera recordings from Arellano, Drum and McCarthy were never produced and were later reported as deleted.
The June 17 sheriff’s office report is consistent with Griffin’s assertion that he was detained before Chism entered the home. Chism wrote that other deputies had Griffin detained when he arrived.
However, the report does not identify those deputies or describe who initially detained or handcuffed Griffin.
Chism allegedly entered the home after Richardson told him that Iglehart had declined to authorize an arrest. Griffin asked for a higher-ranking supervisor and said he wanted an attorney, according to his complaint. The lawsuit alleges Chism announced Griffin was under arrest for third-degree assault approximately three seconds after Griffin requested an attorney.
Griffin also disputes the sequence described in Chism’s report, which states that Chism spoke with the woman, then Griffin, before making the arrest decision. Griffin contends Chism’s body-camera footage shows Chism entered the home, found Griffin already handcuffed, and announced the arrest within seconds.
Discrepancies in Reports
The copies supplied to NEA Report were printed Aug. 14, 2026. Both reports list their status as “closed,” identify Iglehart as the approving officer and leave the assisting-officers section blank.
Griffin alleges a copy of the June 17 report printed in 2023 left the approving-officer field blank. He further claims a copy produced in December 2025 still listed the case as active.
The current reports do not show when the status and approving-officer fields were entered or changed.
The June 16 report was assigned to Ron Richardson, the sheriff’s office’s former captain of investigations. Griffin alleges Ron Richardson is Connor Richardson’s father and Starleigh Richardson’s brother-in-law. Griffin claims those family relationships are relevant because Connor Richardson participated in the arrest, Ron Richardson controlled investigatory assignments and Starleigh Richardson later handled Griffin’s public-records requests.
Body-Camera Evidence Dispute
A significant portion of the lawsuit concerns the sheriff’s office’s handling of body-camera recordings and Griffin’s subsequent Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requests.
Griffin alleges Chism’s failure to list the assisting deputies prevented their recordings from being connected to the incident in the sheriff’s office’s evidence-management system. Recordings without an evidentiary designation were subject to automatic deletion after 180 days, he said.
Griffin claims the default setting conflicted with the sheriff’s office’s written body-camera policy, which allegedly required recordings associated with prosecutions to remain preserved until the cases were fully adjudicated. The policy also allegedly required recordings known to involve civil matters to be retained for at least three years.
The lawsuit says Griffin’s defense attorney filed a discovery request for all audio and video recordings June 22, 2023, while the criminal cases remained pending.
Griffin sought the recordings and related documents through public-records requests in December 2025.
The complaint alleges FOIA custodian Starleigh Richardson initially told Griffin the incident belonged to the Jonesboro Police Department and that the Craighead County Sheriff’s Office had no responsive records. Fourteen minutes later, she allegedly reversed that response, produced the incident report and said the body-camera recordings had been deleted under a 180-day retention policy.
Assistant Chief Deputy Jason Allen later said the recordings were deleted because the case had been closed and adjudicated in September 2023, according to the lawsuit.
Griffin alleges that date concerned the dismissal of a separate order-of-protection case. His criminal cases remained active until Dec. 12, 2023.
The complaint says Griffin later obtained his former defense attorney’s file and discovered that recordings from Richardson and Chism had been provided during the criminal discovery process. Recordings from Arellano, Drum and McCarthy were not included.
Griffin also alleges Allen provided an audit log for an unrelated Chism recording from June 19, 2023, while certifying it as responsive to Griffin’s request for records from June 16 and 17.
Five Civil Rights Claims
The lawsuit brings five claims under federal civil rights law:
- False arrest and unlawful detention against Richardson, Arellano, Chism, Drum and McCarthy
- First Amendment retaliatory arrest against Chism
- Malicious prosecution and fabrication or omission of evidence against Richardson and Chism
- Civil conspiracy against Richardson, Starleigh Richardson and Allen
- Municipal liability against Craighead County
Griffin alleges the arrest and six-month prosecution caused severe anxiety, damaged his family relationships and employment prospects, and forced him to withdraw money from his retirement account to cover living expenses.
He seeks compensatory and punitive damages, a declaration that his constitutional rights were violated, court costs, and other relief. The complaint does not specify a requested dollar amount. Griffin demanded a jury trial.
NEA Report contacted the assistant chief deputy and sheriff-elect, Jason Allen, who was not aware of this lawsuit before speaking to our reporter. He declined to comment.
The case is Griffin v. Richardson et al., No. 3:26-cv-00172-BSM.
As NEA Report previously reported, Arellano is separately accused of using excessive force against Hackett during an Aug. 1 traffic stop. That case is Hackett v. Arellano, No. 3:26-cv-00230.
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