Inset: Dara Masterson (Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The area in Arkansas where Masterson allegedly ran over her husband (Google Maps).
A 33-year-old woman in Arkansas is accused of running over her husband following an argument over their recent separation, leaving him in critical condition.
Dara M. Masterson was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with one count of second-degree reckless battery and one count of driving while intoxicated, records show.
According to a news release from the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office, deputies at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday responded to a 911 call regarding a medical emergency in the area of the 9600 block of White Lane in Lavaca, which is about 150 miles northwest of Little Rock.
When deputies arrived at the scene, emergency medical personnel had already reached the victim and were providing treatment. Authorities soon learned that the victim — later identified as 34-year-old Clayton Masterson — had been struck by a vehicle. He was airlifted to a hospital in Little Rock for treatment where he was admitted in critical condition.
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Deputies located Dara Masterson still at the scene and identified her as the victim’s wife. Speaking with authorities, Dara Masterson explained that she and her husband were separated and she had come to the house to pick up some of her belongings. At some point, Dara Masterson said, “they argued” and she attempted to leave the residence.
“As she was leaving, she felt threatened, backed up her vehicle, and ran over her husband,” the sheriff’s office said in the release.
Audio from the 911 call placed by Dara Masterson after he suffered his injuries was obtained by Rogers NBC affiliate KNWA and provided additional information about the aftermath of the incident.
During the call, which lasted seven minutes, a frantic Dara Masterson tells the dispatcher, “my husband was mad at me,” adding, “he told me to leave and I backed up and he was on the car and he’s hurt.”
As the dispatcher transfers the call to EMS, Dara Masterson can be heard screaming, “I don’t know if he’s alive!” She also repeatedly screams her husband’s name and pleads for assistance.
“He told me to leave and I backed up in the car and I hit him,” she reiterates to the EMS dispatcher.
Dara Masterson also states multiple times that her husband’s father was at the scene when the incident occurred.
Asked if she ran “all the way over” her husband, Dara Masterson shouts, “I don’t know” in response.
“I didn’t want to leave,” she says. “He tried to tell me to leave and I didn’t want to leave.”
She tells the dispatcher that her husband is bleeding from his mouth and nose and that he was breathing, but she wasn’t sure if he was breathing “normally.”
“I don’t know how alive he is, I’m so scared!” she shouts about three minutes into the call before repeating that she did not mean to run over him.
The SCSO Criminal Investigation Division took control of the case, placing Dara Masterson under arrest a short while after her husband was hospitalized.
Authorities said that since being admitted to the hospital, Clayton Masterson’s condition has been upgraded to stable.
Dara Masterson is currently being held in the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center on $10,000 bond. She is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
