Suspect charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault after beating victim with pipe at Meteor Crater Rest Stop

Curtis Ray Smith of Hartselle, Alabama
Photo courtesy Coconino County Sheriff's Office

Victim taken to Flagstaff Medical Center with multiple head injuries
Flagstaff, Arizona - At midnight on Thursday, November 3, the Coconino County Sheriff's Office received a 911 call from a cell phone. According to the caller, she was stopped in her vehicle at the Meteor Crater Rest Stop and observed an adult male strike a male victim in the back of the head with a pipe-shaped object multiple times.
The witness went on to say that the victim fell to the ground and was bleeding profusely from his head. She said she turned on her headlights and aimed them at the suspect and the suspect fled the area after entering a dark blue vehicle with a light grey hood.

When deputies arrived at the scene, they found the victim seated in his vehicle with a towel applied to his head injury. Winslow Emergency Services arrived and administered initial medical treatment.

The victim was flown to the Flagstaff Medical Center for treatement of multiple head injuries believed to have resulted from blunt force trauma.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers located a vehicle similar in appearance to the description of the suspect vehicle parked in the same area at the rest stop off the westbound lanes of Interstate Highway 40. Officers found Curtis Ray Smith seated in his vehicle and took him into custody without further incident.

CCSO detectives stated that they believed Smith watched the victim as he walked to a restroom and then followed him back to his vehicle where he attacked the man and demanded his wallet. The victim grabbed the suspect and Smith fled on foot without the wallet he had demanded. 

Detectives found a blunt object with blood at one end in Smith's vehicle.

Curtis Ray Smith of Hartselle, Alabama is being held in the Coconino County Detention Facility on a $150,000 bond. Smith faces charges of one count of Armed Robbery, one count of Aggravated Assault, one count of Possession of Prescription Drugs, and Criminal Damage.  This case remains under investigation by the CCSO.