Police officer hurt in mall incident

CLOVIS — A man is in jail after injuring a Clovis police officer while fleeing a shoe store at the mall Saturday afternoon, officials said.

Myrtis Hart, 32, was booked into the Curry County Adult Detention Center just before 4:30 p.m. that day for aggravated battery upon a peace officer and resisting arrest, among other charges.

Less than two hours earlier, officers responded to the Footlocker store at North Plains Mall for a trespassing complaint. Hart had been asked to leave the store and refused to give his name to mall security, according to an email Monday from CPD Capt. Roman Romero.

It was when Officer Tim Orum responded and began to put Hart into handcuffs that the situation escalated.

“Officer Orum was able to turn Hart around for handcuffing when he reported that Hart looked to his right, and immediately after this (Orum) felt an ‘extreme’ amount of pain and pressure on his right knee, shin, and ankle, and he fell to the floor,” Romero wrote. “Hart had stomped on Officer Orum’s foot and ankle.”

Orum found he couldn’t put any weight on the leg, with the injury later described as a spiral break to the fibula near his ankle, Romero wrote.

Unable to pursue Hart, he called for assistance as the suspect fled. Officers captured him on Concord Street, just behind the mall.

Orum “is off duty status and his recovery to full duty will take time,” Romero wrote.

Hart remained Monday evening in the jail, and additional information on his charges had yet to be filed in courts.