A Corning man has been charged with murder after authorities say a fight turned deadly.
On July 5 the Clay County Sheriff’s Office requested the Arkansas State Police to assist in a death investigation.
Arkansas State Police interviewed four people at the Clay County Courthouse in Corning who claimed that Danny Joe Thomas, age 60, had told them he hit his 78-year old stepfather, identified as Eddie D. Leonard, with a wheelchair support, killing him.
Thomas told Investigators he lived with Leonard and his mother.
He admitted on July 4th he drank “at least a 12-pack of beer.”
When Thomas returned home, he stated Leonard was mad at him for drinking and the two got into a fight.
Court documents say that “Thomas stated Leonard picked up a foot support from a wheelchair and tried to strike him on the head.”
Authorities say Thomas then took the wheelchair support away from Leonard, then “jumped on Leonard” and hit him two-to-three times.
Following the fight, an ambulance took Leonard to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center for difficulty breathing.
A doctor pronounced him dead at the hospital.
On July 6, a Greene County District Judge found probable cause to arrest Thomas on one count of second-degree murder.
Thomas is being held in the Greene County Detention Center in lieu of a $100,000 bond.