The attorney for a Bentonville firefighter who resigned his position after being involved in an allegedly racially motivated altercation with an Asian man outside Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort on March 13 says the incident is not "accurately characterized" on a Hot Springs Police Department report.
Brent Miller, attorney for Ben Snodgrass, told The Sentinel-Record in a series of texts that Snodgrass was drugged without his knowledge and that the racist, anti-Asian allegation against his client is "laughable."
"Snodgrass is a family man, down in Hot Springs with his wife for their 20th wedding anniversary," Miller said, watching the Arkansas-LSU game and simulcast racing at a nearby bar with his wife and brother-in-law.
"They had left Snodgrass there as he had some pick 3s bet at other tracks, and were planning to Uber back to pick him up, but Snodgrass was unknowingly drugged w/MDA," or Sass, while at a nearby bar, Miller said.
According to the HSPD report, Snodgrass, who was observed to have "bloodshot and watery eyes, and to have the odor of intoxicants coming from his person," admitted he confronted Liem Nguyen about not being American that night outside Oaklawn.
Miller said Snodgrass never admitted saying this to the police.
"He's being portrayed this way by Nguyen in the various interviews only to prop up his impending civil suit," Miller said. "Nguyen is never heard by any law enforcement audio recording to say that Snodgrass threatened to kill 'his people' or 'his kind'. ... Interestingly, that rhetoric only surfaced AFTER Nguyen involved Attorney Julie Roper, who evidently sees dollar signs. Nguyen claims Snodgrass threatened to kill him singularly, but never expounded on the purported genocidal threats."
While Nguyen is not heard on the police bodycam recording saying Snodgrass threatened to kill "his people," or "his kind," the anti-Asian "rhetoric" that started the incident was mentioned consistently throughout the bodycam footage of that night, according to recordings obtained from the police department by The Sentinel-Record.
"Mr. Snodgrass reportedly admits to making (a) statement as to Nguyen not being American, but the officer's body mic clearly captures Snodgrass saying 'This is not American, people should be treated better,'" Miller said.
"At this point, I have done nothing more than private counsel to Liem, and that's an inappropriate claim," Roper said. "There's national 'rhetoric,' as he's (Miller) called it, regarding Asian Americans, and the only reason why that is an issue in this matter is this was not some scuffle and dispute outside of Oaklawn from two individuals drinking. We had one intoxicated individual, he was the aggressor, and he stated his reasons were due to Liem's nationality."
Snodgrass has pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor battery and public intoxication. A March 26 news release from Bentonville City Spokesperson Debbie Griffin said Snodgrass, employed since 2007, had resigned as a captain with the fire department. It said he "expressed regret and an apology for any embarrassment to his Family, Fellow Firefighters, Friends and the City of Bentonville."
Miller at one point called the incident "a travesty, and I hope upon reflection by the prosecutor's office, this battery charge is dropped, and Nguyen is charged," citing his alleged actions that night toward Snodgrass, citing subpoenaed Oaklawn security footage he said shows "Mr. Nguyen on top of Mr. Snodgrass after having punched Snodgrass on the left side of his face, knocking him to the ground and striking Snodgrass about his head a few more times, causing his ear and mouth to bleed."
"I'd be curious to know the reason behind Mr. Snodgrass' resignation from his position with the Bentonville Fire Department if he truly felt he was a victim. That seems to be inconsistent with his claims. Also, Liem was not charged with public intox, it was Mr. Snodgrass who was charged, and that was not a national hype about Asian Americans, that was a man drinking to excess in public," Roper said.
"There was obviously a battery," she said. "The charges need to be prosecuted. The fact that he has resigned a position with Bentonville Fire Department indicates to me that he understands there was some wrong in what he did, and that needs to be prosecuted."
In regard to the claim that Snodgrass was "unknowingly drugged" with MDA at the bar he was at, Miller said Snodgrass voluntarily submitted a urine sample to a lab and his MDA concentration was over 13000 ng/mL.
The "threshold" is 250, Miller said. "MDA causes hallucinations and paranoid delusion. The arresting officer didn't note in his report that when he got Snodgrass to the jail, he answered a call from Snodgrass' wife, who had no idea where her husband was, and told her he felt Snodgrass seemed to be hallucinating and not simply impaired from alcohol. Snodgrass repeatedly told officers and Oaklawn security that 'something really wrong was happening' and 's - - - was crazy' ... Snodgrass is a straight arrow. Does countless charitable events in Bentonville, and is about as all-inclusive a human there is."
"I find that very doubtful since I know of a lot of different people that frequent that bar, it just doesn't seem plausible to me," Roper said. "My belief is Mr. Snodgrass, as he stated to the police officer, and is in the police report, was 'hammered,' and also later he stated on one of the bodycams that 'they were pumping gas into that place and making people do crazy things,' or making 'him do crazy things' -- I couldn't distinguish if he said 'they' or 'him' -- but nothing indicates any truthfulness to anything other than he was intoxicated at the racetrack, having drank all day."
She also noted the alleged urine sample taken by a lab was not taken at the time of the incident, "so we don't know where Mr. Snodgrass either self-inflicted or from some other place or other occasion encountered it."
Miller later confirmed the sample was collected March 15, two days after the arrest.
The trial date is set for May 6.
Multimedia journalist Tyler Wann contributed to this article.