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Harrison man with prior convictions for attacking officers back in jail for Boone County assault

Writer's picture: Dennis McCaslinDennis McCaslin

Jordan Anthony Sweaney

A thirty year-old Boone County man with two previous convictions involving attacks on police officers is in the Boone County jail after he stabbed a Harrison police officer in the side and neck during an altercation at a hospital on Sunday.


According to information from the Boone County booking sheets and the Harrison Police Department, Sgt, Matt Odom, a 15-year veteran with the department, was stabbed by Jordan Anthony Sweaney as the officer attempted to settle a disturbance at the medical facility.



Sgt. Matt Odom - Harrison PD

Odom, who was working as a security guard at the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center in Harrison, was able to draw his weapon and hold it on the Sweaney until other officers arrived. Odom didn't require surgery but "is lucky to be alive" according to a release from the Harrison Police Department.


According to media reports, Odom was back on the job by Tuesday despite what was termed "serious" wounds.

Sweaney is being held on attempted capital murder, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct and is a habitual offender, with at least two other attacks on officers in the past for which he served time.


In August of 2018, Sweaney was found guilty for a 2017 attack on a Newton County law enforcement official and battery charges for an assault on certain victims and given eighteen months in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.


In August of 2019 he worked a plea deal in Carroll County for a May 11, 2019 incident that saw him charged with Aggravated Assault on a Corrections or Law Enforcement Officer and Second Degree Battery charges. That arrest saw him pick up a 24-month sentence with 48-m0nths suspended.


The Sunday arrest comes less than nineteen months after he was sentenced to two years for the Carroll County charges.


A call to the Boone County Sheriffs office check on the bail amount for Sweaney went unreturned as of 3:45 p.m on Thursday.


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