Thankfully no bystanders were hurt but things could’ve been a lot worse as Arkansas Police chased two vehicles in one small subdivision
Police in Arkansas are well known for their aggressive pursuit tactics that some consider to be highly unsafe. In the case of this double pursuit, they insist on chasing a suspect at high speed through a residential neighborhood. It ends with a Jeep Grand Cherokee halfway into the front of some innocent bystander’s home.
This chase occurred in southwest Little Rock back in October. In fact, it’s actually two police chases in one, as troopers from the Arkansas State Police were pursuing both a Jeep and a Chevrolet. As the two cars raced down Hilario Spring Rd, the Jeep made a hard right turn onto American Manor Dr. The Malibu continued on and turned down the very next street. At this stage, the police split up to chase each suspect.
Interestingly, the suspects may have unknowingly trapped themselves in a subdivision with only one other road leading out of it. Many police officers are required to pass a test demonstrating their knowledge of the streets in their patrol area, so it’s not unreasonable to expect these officers to understand their location. Essentially, they could have dispatched a unit to the other road, which was about a mile away, and effectively cornered the suspects.
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Instead, they press on with the chase and the suspects end up back on the same road together, on account of the lack of roads in a tiny subdivision… moments later. As the two come to a T-junction in the neighborhood the two cars go in separate directions. The Malibu gets some distance on officers but the Jeep fails to do the same and slams into the front of a home while trying to make a last-second turn.
Officers tail the Malibu for just a little bit longer before forcing it into someone else’s front yard and over their mailbox. Both suspects went to jail and evidently, nobody in the first home was injured. Another YouTube channel covering this same incident purports to have the police report.
In that report, an officer describes the maximum speed in the chase to be 72 mph (116 km/h) and confirms that the speed limit was just 25 mph (40 km/h). Nobody is suggesting that wrongdoers shouldn’t face consequences, but scrutiny of strategy is fair and warranted when it objectively puts the public at risk. How do you think the police should have handled this situation?