A 31-year old North Carolina resident was arrested in Arkansas last month after leading police on a scary high-speed on Interstate 40 chase in a black colored eighth-generation Chevy Impala.
The pursuit, which was captured on an officer’s dashcam, started when Arkansas State troopers pulled over 31-year old Brian Starnes on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. When an officer attempted to approach Starnes’ car from the passenger side, he accelerated down the highway at a high rate of speed, prompting two officers in separate patrol cars to give pursuit.
One of the officers eventually caught up with Starnes’ car and attempted a daring pit maneuver at over 100 mph, sending the Impala into a spin before it stopped facing the opposite direction of the flow of traffic. The Chevy Impala driver then begins speeding down the Interstate in the opposite direction, creating a tense situation for officers as they attempted to stop the vehicle before innocent bystanders were hurt.
The same officer was eventually able to get in front of Starnes’ car using a service lane and lined his cruiser up head-on with the Chevy Impala. As the suspect approached, the officer purposefully slams his cruiser into Starnes’ car head-on, immobilizing it and allowing them to move in and make the arrest. Paramedics were dispatched to the scene to administer aid to the officers and the suspect, although no injuries were reported.
Starnes was arrested and booked on multiple charges, including felony assault on a police officer and fleeing. He is being held at the Franklin County detention center on a $100,000 bond.
If it weren’t for the actions of one brave police officer, this situation could have ended up much worse. Check out the video below to see how this scary high-speed pursuit played out in real-time.
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Comments
Although watching something like this can be fun and exciting, this was a perfect example of how to NEVER handle this. First, you NEVER attempt a PIT maneuver at speeds like that. Watching the video, you can see how dangerous that was and it created the situation where the suspect then drove against traffic at high speeds. Second, the officer should NOT have followed the suspect at that high rate of speed going against traffic. Super dangerous. Third, the officer who purposely placed himself in a head-on collision with the suspect is stupid but lucky.
When I was in the police academy, this would be the type of video they would have used to show us what NOT to do. All that for what? An idiot with a suspended license? Maybe some drugs? So endanger many motorist, destroy $40,000 worth of tax payer police equipment just to say you “got em”? Law enforcement needs some major overhauling and fast.
Your not really a car guy are you.
What exactly does that mean? So you are saying that a “real car guy” should love this Dukes of Hazard stuff? Come on. Get real. I’ve been on pursuits. I’ve had to make split second decisions. With a comment like yours, it’s obvious that you have zero clue to what the police should be doing and instead you must watch too much tv with the excitement being more important than public safety.
My comment was directed towards the author of this story, and I’m sure he knew it. So it is you who has zero clue. FYI!
Sorry to confuse you.
I just wish they could have just unloaded a clip into the car as he drove off and not had to risk so many lives.
This is a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situations as it can go really bad no matter what you do,
You chase you risk a major crash you do nothing you still risk a major crash.
If you let people run they will begin to run all the time.
There needs to be a price to pay if not then there would be no deterrent.
C8.R: I agree. Having a law enforcement background and having been personally involved in pursuits, they are a double edged sword. However, for those looking at this from a serious point of view rather than as entertainment, you will notice that the police (two of them) already have the suspect stopped. They are police officers, thus they already have his tags and they already had contact with the driver (thus, they can personally I.D him). When he took off, the correct (and safest) thing for them to do would be to go after him based on department policy. When they needed to back off would have been when he was passing on the shoulder at speeds above 50 mph. They then should have radioed ahead to attempt spike strips, although they can be very difficult to get placed where needed. Then they should have dropped back into non-chase mode and simply attempt to wait it out. Chances are the suspect would have had mechanical failure or run out of gas soon enough. Less people placed in extreme danger and likely a police cruiser would have been saved.
If and only if you have a positive ID.
It is bad enough now they let people go and they never show up in court.
Live PD could have made a drinking game out of people with warrants on each stop.
Worse case I’d the cops even do not chase and the suspect continues to run.
I saw 3 people killed when a suspect ran the cops called off the run. The suspect kept running and hit an intersection killing three people. Had the key with him would the lights or siren been a help?
It is all hind sight and you just have to make the best call you can. Only when it is over do you know you did what was right.
This guy could have been let yo run and still crashed someone. We will never know. Cars can be replaced not innocent people.
More tech is coming but none is perfect. Tagging has been encouraging. But it cost money many departments don’t have and many are losing more funding.
The bottom line is you make a quick assessment and make the best of your choice and hope you are right.
Yup. All very true. That’s the dilemma that departments all over this country debate and encounter daily. I recall sitting in a chief’s meeting hashing this very thing out after a “bad” chase with people hurt that shouldn’t have been. No easy answer for sure, but the officers do the best they can in most cases. But with that said, the training and bringing officers up to speed on tech instead of more dangerous methods is really needed badly. Like I said in my first post above: I see where there were three massive failures in the 4+ minute video. Just glad nobody got hurt.
I don’t have ill intentions but if I was a “bad guy” at least get an old 2006-11 Impala PPv with the 3.9 or better yet an 3.6 ’12-16 model or Lt1/WM Caprice so cops in Tahoesaurs can’t catch you easily….
If only Americans could drive at the speeds he was driving on the interstate this would not be a big deal. As those speeds were low comparted to my time driving on European autobahns. What made the driving dangerous was driving fast in the shoulder passing the big rigs. If going over the slow limit was so dangerous LEOs would not chase as 85 mph in a 70 is so damn scary!
With that said the driver is foolish to try to run away from the police just like people that try to flee on foot.
It strikes me that this could be handled differently without totaled a patrol car or put commuters lives in danger. Those officers were really into adrenaline rush.
Scary!
pursuits are on a long list of things that are going to be overlooked in the new america,just like crimes committed by some politicians and there families. go the “big guy” $20 fines if you feel like paying it and community service at grade schools for sex offenders.
Wow, that was intense. Glad he did not hit anyone innocent head-on. Good police work.