Busted: Arkansas cop admits he shot himself and blamed Hispanic man at traffic stop

An Arkansas police officer was charged with filing a false police report after admitting that he lied when he said that an Hispanic man shot him in the chest.

England Police Sgt. David Houser triggered a man hunt last month by asserting that a traffic stop on Highway 15 turned violent. Houser claimed that an Hispanic man pointed a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun out the window at him. He reported that he was able to push the gun away just as the suspect fired the first round, which he said grazed his bulletproof vest and then was possibly deflected by a pen.

At the time, police said that they were searching for a silver SUV that may have bullet holes in the passenger side.

On Tuesday, the Arkansas State Police announced that Houser had been taken into custody.

England Police Department Chief Nathan Cook told ArkansasOnline that Houser "fabricated the story."

"It's every chief's worst nightmare to get a call that your officer has been shot or involved in a shooting," Cook said. "To investigate and find out it's self-inflicted just puts a whole different spin on it."

According to Cook, Houser "admitted that he had fabricated that whole thing."

"He's obviously got some personal issues he's dealing with," the chief observed. "Obviously he needs some help to have fabricated a shooting incident and to shoot yourself and claim you were shot at by someone who doesn't exist."

The Arkansas State Police declined to release additional details about the case at this time.

Watch the video below from KTHV, broadcast Oct. 26, 2015.