State trooper shot during traffic stop

HEMPSTEAD COUNTY, AR - A state trooper was shot during a traffic stop along U.S. Highway 278 between Ozan and Nashville near the Hempstead and Howard County line. The suspect was also shot.

Arkansas State Trooper, Corporal Pete Penney, radioed in a traffic stop around 9pm Friday, according to state police. Ten minutes later he radioed in again requesting assistance and reporting shots had been fired.

Police say a Nashville police officer responded to the scene and found Trooper Penney and the driver of the stopped vehicle, 66-year-old Herman Lee White, both were wounded.

Both Trooper Penny and White were are reported to be in stable condition.

According to Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton, White was just released from the county jail on March 15, 2012, where he had been locked up on a failure to appear warrant from a previous offense.

The investigation is ongoing.