Ex-Savannah firefighter indicted in Applebees restaurant assault on black couple

Barry "Ricky" Arnold Jr., the Southside Optimist Club's 2014 Savannah Fire Officer of the Year.

A former Savannah Fire Officer of the Year was indicted Wednesday on felony aggravated assault charges in an incident at an Applebee’s restaurant in which he shouted racial slurs and pointed a gun at a black patron.

Then-Capt. Barry Richard “Ricky” Arnold Jr., 42, committed aggravated assault by pointing a pistol at Marquist Curtis and Amber Phillips, the Chatham County grand jury said in returning aggravated assault charges against Arnold.

The same grand jurors charged Arnold with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in both aggravated assaults and simple battery by kicking Curtis in the chest area in the same attack.

The grand jurors also charged Arnold with disorderly conduct by using abusive words to refer to blacks and public drunkenness during which his “intoxicated condition was manifested by vulgar and unbecoming language to wit: the continued and repeated use of the word (the N-word).”

Read more: http://savannahnow.com/crime-courts-news/2016-12-07/ex-savannah-firefighter-indicted-applebee-s-restaurant-assault-black