Is What Happened to Aaron Spencer Part of a Decade-Long Pattern in Lonoke County?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Drake.

**Tony Brueski** (0:08)
Wilson's ruling in the Aaron Spencer case focused on one detective and one piece of evidence, but Lowenow County's history under Sheriff Staley goes back over a decade. A deputy killed an unnamed 17-year-old named Hunter Brittain with his body camera off.
A jailed detainee was allegedly assaulted and retaliated against for reporting it. Video evidence has vanished in federal civil rights cases. The question isn't what happened to one SD card. It's who's trying to escape accountability now, and that a judge has finally used the word cover-up in writing.
Aaron Spencer going in, we're assuming he's going to be elected sheriff. Let's just keep operating on that.
Go in, you go on to say accountability, and accountability is going to be looking at a lot of the past track that you are now planning to go forward on and going, ooh, that's some rough track back there. And there's a lot of people who were hurt by it. And those people, they're glad you're there. They're glad that you are going to go forward and you're going to be an accountable agency. But you know what? They were still burned back then. And if the agency itself, the sheriff's department, is saying, yeah, it was fucked up. We did a bunch of fucked up people, doing a bunch of fucked up things. And holy shit. Yeah. They still want accountability for it. That's going to open up doors. That's going to open up lawsuits. That's going to, not just because they want to punish Aaron. No, they love him. But it's the sheriff's department and their insurance company if they have it. And their coffers that are going to take the hit of exposing that sort of behavior if it exists. Let's talk about that for a minute because that's a Pandora's box that ultimately will have to be opened.

**Bob Mata** (1:51)
Yeah. I mean, no question about it. And, you know, at some point in time, quantity becomes quality. I mean, because one incident, you know, you're like, all right, that's an error in judgment.
When it starts to happen and it's clear that it's a pattern, that's a whole different thing, man. You know, and we're talking about a situation where how is that going to get dealt with in terms of everything that's going to come along with it if it starts to get exposed? Because like you're talking about it, it is nuanced because this is a political office. Yeah. Meaning that if you're going to come in and flamethrow the prior administration to the extent where you're setting the county up for massive lawsuits, it's tricky. You know what I'm saying? It's a tricky situation because you know what the right thing to do is, right? Right is right. Money should never take precedent over what's right. However, when you're in a political position, you know, we just know how that shit works in the real world. It's like there's the way it looks on paper and the way that it should be. And there's the way that it operates in practice in the real world. Now, I'm of the mindset that Aaron's not going to give a shit. Like that Aaron's going to say, you know what?
If we're exposed as a county and we're going to have to open the coffers because there's going to be multiple lawsuits that are going to have to get battled, then so be it. And you know what?
That's a warning to the community, to the taxpayers. Take a look at who you're voting into office.

**Tony Brueski** (3:43)
Yeah, it's like you put these people here, you supported them there, they did the damage. Now you get to also face the consequences of electing dipshits.

**Bob Mata** (3:51)
Exactly. You know what I mean? Ultimately, it's a heavy price to pay, but the benefit is that you're getting a safer community for your kids to grow up in, and a safer community for you to live in. Because when you're talking about Lowanoke County, you're not talking about a crime hub, right? You're not talking about, you're not reading articles about Lowanoke County, and there were 37 shootings over the holiday weekend. This ain't it. Shit that goes on there is clearly way more nefarious.
It's under cover of darkness and you're not aware of it. You know what I'm saying? So it's way more insidious. So it's a harder problem to bring to the surface.
The only way that you're going to be able to do it is through exposure. Exposure means that you're doing the digging, you're going to have to flame throw people publicly that were probably in positions of power and you're going to go from there, and you're just going to let the chips fall where they may ultimately. And if that means that careers are lost, lives are ruined, money is paid out, then so be it.