Details are still coming in at this time, what can be said is shortly before 3:00am a pursuit involving Craighead County Officers entered Lawrence County on Hwy.63 heading north. Craighead officers were joined in the pursuit by Hoxie, Walnut Ridge and Lawrence County Sheriff’s Deputies. The chase continued through the county leading officers through Portia and Black Rock before the suspect turned onto Hwy.117. Officers made the decision in the interest of public safety to use the PIT maneuver to disable the vehicle. A Lawrence County Deputy then disabled the vehicle with the PIT maneuver, spinning it out with the vehicle coming to rest in the yard of a residence on Hwy.117 around 3:15am.
Officers were then involved in a foot chase with the suspect escaping into the darkness. A K-9 Unit was on scene assisting with the search and additional search dogs were called for.
Craighead County reported that they had charges of Unauthorized Use of a Vehicle and Felony Fleeing at the time of the pursuit. Craighead County also advised the suspect description was a white male from Melbourne Arkansas approximately 30 years old, 5ft 8in and around 200 lbs with what was described as a long criminal history.
Search efforts still continued at the time of this report. We will bring you details as soon as they are released by the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department.
**Update at approximately 6:30 am suspect was seen in the vicinity of Verkler Trailer Park on foot and hiding in the surrounding wooded area wearing a light blue shirt and dark pants, covered in mud.