Image via LRHNCash/YouTube
Somehow not everyone has received the message that running from law enforcement in the state of Arkansas is a bad idea. We guess they haven’t seen dashcam footage like this of a suspect who was fleeing local law enforcement when an Arkansas state trooper jumps into the chase, ending it by pitting the vehicle, which flips off an interstate overpass.
Watch an Arkansas father hold up the repo man.
We know to some this sounds brutal and it honestly is. Although with modern vehicles’ roof structural integrity, it’s not a death sentence like it would’ve been thirty years ago. The trooper also ended a dangerous pursuit on city streets which could’ve resulted in a fatal collision with some innocent people.
In the footage, we see the trooper jump in the chase as a whole string of cops are after the little Nissan crossover. Since it’s not some high-powered performance vehicle, he’s able to pass his colleagues and take the lead on the pursuit without much trouble.
That’s not to say the trooper isn’t putting on display some nice driving skills, because he is. Watching Arkansas State Police at work is almost always a joy. It’s obvious their training is thorough.
As the trooper closes in to end things, the suspect tries using the little gerbil-powered crossover to outmaneuver and outrun him. But that effort is useless. Perhaps it’s how the Nissan ended up strafing to the left instead of spinning out, shooting past the overpass barrier and flipping on the interstate below?
By some miracle, nobody was on that section of the road at the time. Had the crossover landed on another vehicle, or directly in front of one, the result might have been fatal for the suspect and the innocent people. Instead, police drag the Nissan driver out and arrest him.
Image via LRHNCash/YouTube
I’m all for pulling over the bad guys (and you have to assume that they guy would not have fled if only a ticket was at stake). But that was a foolish thing–especially at night. The police blew through red lights where people going from right to left would have never seen the police lights in advance. Further, doing the PIT maneuver in a neighborhood is a great way to get innocent people killed or injured. And to do it on a bridge…well, while I’m sure it was not intentional to send the guy off the bridge, it was not well-thought out either.
You don’t kill or endanger people unless you know that letting that person go is going to do even worse damage. There would have been no high-speed chase if the police hadn’t made it one.
There’s probably no good answers either way, but pretty sure this wasn’t the right one in any case.