When motorists flee from the police they in effect risk harm to themselves, to their vehicle, and to third parties. What often goes overlooked is the risk posed by the officers pursuing these individuals. That isn’t the case for at least one vehicle owner in Little Rock, Arkansas where an officer pursuing a suspect ran into two parked cars.
The chase began in North Little Rock when a Jeep Patriot decided to run from a local law enforcement officer. The driver dipped into triple-digit speeds multiple times and led the police into Little Rock itself. After exiting the highway, the chase ended up near the Capitol View area of the city and deep into residential neighborhoods.
The video description purports to be from the police report and says that during this time, the chase included speeds of around 40 mph. At one point, the Jeep driver appears to make a wrong turn and in an effort to escape, makes a U-turn in front of the officers. Neither officer stops the vehicle and in fact, they lose sight of it shortly thereafter.
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That doesn’t stop them from racing down residential streets though. According to the description, the officer who ended up crashing admits that he was driving at 70 mph even though the suspect was not in sight. As he approaches a 90-degree right-hand turn he comes in too hot, fails to complete the maneuver, drives through someone’s front yard, and smashes into two parked cars in the driveway.
Allegedly, the brakes failed on the police car. “I pressed the brakes to my unit and attempted to make a slight right turn onto Rice Street. I noticed that my patrol unit was not slowing down. At that moment, once there the vehicle made another right hand (north bound) turn onto MLK Drive, followed by an uncontrollably drove into the yard of 2213 Dennison Street and crashed into the homeowners two vehicles,” says the report.
To be clear, there’s no question that people who run from the police should face justice and that chasing a suspect is absolutely understandable. In this case though, it seems that the officer’s reasoning skills are worthy of criticism.