Bigelow Arkansas Woman Sentenced to Over 12 Months in Federal Prison for Assaulting a Federal Officer

FORT SMITH – A Bigelow, Arkansas woman was sentenced yesterday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by two years of supervised release on one count of Assaulting, resisting, and impeding a Federal Officer. The Honorable Judge P.K. Holmes, III, presided over the sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Fort Smith.

According to court documents, on June 24, 2021, two United States Park Rangers with the National Park Service, at Buffalo National River, contacted Kristie Leigh Hudson, age 30, who was involved in an apparent verbal domestic altercation with her partner in the Spring Creek Campground in Searcy County, after a citizen complaint to the officers. Upon making contact with Hudson and her partner, the officers determined Hudson appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance(s) and had been fighting with her male companion.

Rangers attempted to identify Hudson who refused to cooperate with the investigation, and she began fighting with the officers after which she was detained.

Based on the statements of her traveling companion and her extreme erratic behavior, officers attempted to take her into custody at which time she began fighting with NPS Officers and an officer of the Marion County Sheriff's Department. During the contact and custodial arrest, one of the NPS Officers sustained injury. She was arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail where she was restrained and later taken for medical evaluation and subsequently tried to escape the officers.

U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

The National Park Service, Investigative Services Branch and Buffalo National River investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tyler Williams prosecuted the case.