Former Selmer officer charged with assaulting arrestee

Special agents from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have obtained indictments on a former police sergeant accused of mistreating an arrestee, according to a news release today.

At the request of 25th District Attorney General Mike Dunavant, TBI agents began investigating Robert Carl Pipkins on Nov. 14, 2014. During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that on Nov. 13, while working for the Selmer Police Department, Pipkins arrested a man on a traffic-related charge.

The investigation further revealed the sergeant physically assaulted and injured the arrestee during the booking process, while he was handcuffed and being processed at the McNairy County Criminal Justice Center, the TBI said. Pipkins resigned from the department in early December.

Today, the McNairy County Grand Jury returned indictments on the 50-year-old Selmer man, charging him with one count of official oppression and one count of simple assault. This afternoon, he was booked into the McNairy County Criminal Justice Center on $5,000 bond.