Larry Works is looking for anyone who may have witnessed a July 29 incident at a Missouri Petro.

Works, an OOIDA member from Holladay, TN, told Land Line he was pepper sprayed, shocked multiple times with a Taser gun and arrested for an argument with a sheriff's deputy on July 29, 2006, in Joplin, MO.

However, some facts about that night vary, depending on the source.

Works says a disagreement with an off-duty Newton County Sheriff's deputy needlessly escalated. Ultimately, Works was arrested on charges of first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer.

The incident started when Works pulled into the Petro on Interstate 44 in Joplin.

Larry and his wife, Chris Works, drive team and at about 6:30 that night they were waiting to pull into a truck parking space at the Petro so they could walk their dog. Larry said he motioned to a man in a Newton County Sheriff's Department patrol car that he wanted to walk his dog by a nearby tree, and the man leaned out of the driver's side window of the patrol car and mouthed, "no," while pointing to other spaces in the parking lot.

Larry said he obliged and tried to make a button-hook turn to the right, but as he pulled forward, the patrol car pulled forward and blocked him.

"His squad car shot right up to my front fender (so) that all I could see was his light bar," Larry said.

A man wearing a pink polo shirt, khaki shorts and casual shoes threw open the door of the patrol car with such force that it bounced back and hit his leg as he was trying to get out, Larry said.

Larry said he and the man argued and then the man said, "I think I'll just arrest you," though he hadn't shown Larry a badge or identified himself as a law enforcement officer.

The man then went back to the patrol car and called someone, Larry said. And when Larry backed in to the original parking spot he had wanted, the man pulled the patrol car behind Larry's trailer and ran up to the truck's cab carrying a pistol and a two-way radio, Larry said.

The man climbed on to the truck's driver's side step and tried to open the door, which Larry had locked. The man then fell to the parking lot, drew his pistol and told Larry to get out of his truck.

"I said, 'No man, this isn't right,' " Larry told Land Line. " 'We need to call the supervisor - you're out of control.' "

Larry said two uniformed Newton County Sheriff's deputies arrived and together with the man broke Larry's passenger-side window and "Tasered" him seven times and pepper sprayed him in the face.

As a result of being pepper sprayed and Tasered, Larry said he suffers aches in his joints and teeth, and uncontrollable muscle twitching and shaking. Larry said his sinuses burn from the pepper spray.

Steve Cathers, the man who was wearing the casual clothes and driving the sheriff's patrol car, recounted his side of the story in a probable cause affidavit Newton County officials used to pursue criminal charges against Larry.

According to Cathers' affidavit, Larry attempted to park in an area of the truck stop's parking lot that he "had secured in reference to high-value loads."

Cathers said Larry "became verbally aggressive and stated that I could move or he would run over me." Cathers said Larry moved his truck forward "almost hitting me," which made Cathers said made him believe Larry wanted to hijack a trailer Cathers had been paid to watch.

Cathers also contends that Larry backed his truck up and quickly move forward, which made Cathers believe he wanted to ram his patrol car.

Cathers said he did identify himself as a deputy sheriff and tried unsuccessfully to get Larry to leave his truck before two other deputies arrived and broke into the truck to arrest him.

The affidavit didn't mention use of Tasers, but Cathers did mentioned deputies using "several less lethal options" to control Larry.

Larry admits to using some sarcasm with Cathers and said it wasn't the first time he's ever been issued a citation.

Larry's case is scheduled to go to Newton County Circuit Court for a preliminary hearing on March 8. Larry and his wife, who's also an OOIDA member, are asking anyone who saw the incident and his subsequent arrest to contact their attorney, Cobb Young, at (417) 623-4000.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland told Land Line that Deputy Steve Cathers has since taken a job in Jasper County, MO. Copeland wouldn't say whether he disciplined Cathers or any other employees in relation to Larry's arrest.

Cathers didn't return phone messages left by Land Line at the Jasper County Sheriff's Department.

At the time of Larry's arrest, Cathers was working at the truck stop in a private security detail for a motor carrier, Copeland said.

"Periodically we have trucks that come through that different carriers hire off-duty officers to watch if they have loads that they need secured," Copeland said.

Copeland declined to confirm how many times Larry was Tased and said that would be noted in the deputy's use of force report. The Sheriff's department has a policy for use of Taser guns, but Copeland declined to describe or reveal the policy and wouldn't show Land Line the use of force report.

"I don't want to try a case in a magazine before it gets to court," Copeland said.

- By Charlie Morasch, staff writer
charlie_morasch@landlinemag.com