FORT SMITH, Ark. -
A local handyman is in jail and a Fort Smith store owner is in the hospital, following a break-in at a downtown tire store Tuesday morning.
31-year-old Dustin Swenson was arrested after police were called to Bercher's Tire and Service Center just after six a.m. by the business owner, Kim Bercher, who said Swenson had attacked him and hit him in the head with a length of pipe.
"I had just opened when I noticed a door was slightly ajarÂ… everything in the shop was disheveled, and I thought 'We've been robbed'," said Bercher Tuesday afternoon.
The tire store owner said he recognized Swenson right away as the handyman at the Howard Johnson hotel next door. He said the intruder also seemed more frightened then he was during the attack.
"He starts running at me, screaming like a little girl, I mean this guy is horrified," Bercher said. "So I turn and start to run away, at that time he's already on top of me and swings and hits me in the back of the head."
Bercher said Swenson then started running around the shop, completely unnerved, which gave him time to get up and call police. When officers arrived, Bercher quickly helped them locate Swenson, who had to be threatened with a taser before he allowed police to take him into custody.
Sergeant Levi Risley with the Fort Smith Police Department said Swenson will also be charged with a second burglary that happened earlier that night at a nearby Narcotics Anonymous building, as well as two other burglaries earlier in the month.
"Our Criminal Investigations Division was able to connect Mr. Swenson to burglaries at the Beau's Tuxedo and Beau's Bridal on Rogers Avenue that happened the night of October 17," Risley said.
Bercher admitted himself to St. Edward's Hospital where he was told he had a skull fracture, but would not require surgery. He told 5NEWS he knows he should have called police the moment he thought someone had broken into his business, and that he also felt sorry for the suspect.
"From what I know, the guy had been living out of his car for a while," said Bercher, "It's lucky for me he was so scared he didn't beat me to death, and he's lucky he didn't go after the police and have them shoot him."
31-year-old Dustin Swenson was arrested after police were called to Bercher's Tire and Service Center just after six a.m. by the business owner, Kim Bercher, who said Swenson had attacked him and hit him in the head with a length of pipe.
"I had just opened when I noticed a door was slightly ajarÂ… everything in the shop was disheveled, and I thought 'We've been robbed'," said Bercher Tuesday afternoon.
The tire store owner said he recognized Swenson right away as the handyman at the Howard Johnson hotel next door. He said the intruder also seemed more frightened then he was during the attack.
"He starts running at me, screaming like a little girl, I mean this guy is horrified," Bercher said. "So I turn and start to run away, at that time he's already on top of me and swings and hits me in the back of the head."
Bercher said Swenson then started running around the shop, completely unnerved, which gave him time to get up and call police. When officers arrived, Bercher quickly helped them locate Swenson, who had to be threatened with a taser before he allowed police to take him into custody.
Sergeant Levi Risley with the Fort Smith Police Department said Swenson will also be charged with a second burglary that happened earlier that night at a nearby Narcotics Anonymous building, as well as two other burglaries earlier in the month.
"Our Criminal Investigations Division was able to connect Mr. Swenson to burglaries at the Beau's Tuxedo and Beau's Bridal on Rogers Avenue that happened the night of October 17," Risley said.
Bercher admitted himself to St. Edward's Hospital where he was told he had a skull fracture, but would not require surgery. He told 5NEWS he knows he should have called police the moment he thought someone had broken into his business, and that he also felt sorry for the suspect.
"From what I know, the guy had been living out of his car for a while," said Bercher, "It's lucky for me he was so scared he didn't beat me to death, and he's lucky he didn't go after the police and have them shoot him."
