A high-speed police pursuit in Arkansas ended with two people who had nothing to do with the chase suffering serious injuries. The crash happened after an Arkansas State Police trooper used a Tactical Vehicle Intervention, commonly known as a PIT maneuver, on a fleeing Hyundai Sonata traveling along Interstate 555.
According to Arkansas State Police, the August 5 pursuit began near Trumann after a trooper attempted to stop the Hyundai for a traffic violation. Police say 32-year-old Laloyd L. Hamilton III refused to stop and accelerated to approximately 130 mph.
The trooper eventually performed the maneuver near mile marker 28, causing the Hyundai to lose control. During the resulting crash, the Sonata struck an uninvolved vehicle, which left the interstate and overturned.
Inside that vehicle were a 68-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man. Both were transported to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis with serious injuries, turning what began as an attempt to apprehend a fleeing driver into a crash involving two innocent motorists.
The Pursuit Allegedly Reached 130 MPH
According to the incident report, the trooper initially clocked Hamilton’s Sonata traveling at 90 mph in a 75-mph zone. Hamilton allegedly accelerated to around 130 mph and passed other traffic on the right after the trooper attempted to stop him.
Dashcam footage shows the trooper eventually making contact with the Hyundai’s rear quarter. The Sonata slides sideways before colliding with a Toyota 4Runner traveling alongside it, sending the SUV off the roadway and into a rollover.
The 4Runner appears to have been slowing as the pursuit approached. Its occupants had no involvement in the chase, yet they ultimately suffered the most serious reported injuries from the crash.
Hamilton was taken to NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital for evaluation before being booked into the Poinsett County Detention Center. Police say a subsequent search of the Hyundai uncovered marijuana, pills, and an unidentified liquid substance.
The Driver Faces A Long List Of Charges
Hamilton has been charged with felony fleeing, second-degree battery, criminal mischief, possession with purpose to deliver a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, hazardous driving, and driving while intoxicated. Those charges remain allegations unless proven in court.
There is also an uncomfortable question surrounding the decision to use a PIT maneuver during a pursuit that had reached extreme speeds. Arkansas State Police has not publicly stated how fast the Hyundai was traveling at the precise moment the maneuver was performed.
Some law enforcement agencies place relatively low speed restrictions on PIT maneuvers because deliberately destabilizing a vehicle becomes considerably more dangerous as speeds increase. Arkansas State Police refers to the technique as a TVI and has previously defended its use as a way of stopping drivers whose continued flight poses a danger to the public.
Arkansas Has Faced PIT Scrutiny Before
This isn’t the first time the agency’s use of the maneuver has attracted attention. In January, an Arkansas trooper performed a TVI on the wrong GMC Yukon while pursuing another vehicle, an incident that highlighted the risks involved when these interventions go wrong.
Arkansas State Police also revised its PIT policy following a widely publicized 2020 incident involving a pregnant driver whose SUV was flipped by a trooper. More recently, the agency said its troopers had conducted 1,428 TVIs between 2016 and early 2026.
None of that establishes that the trooper in this latest pursuit violated department policy, and police allege Hamilton was already driving in a manner that posed a substantial danger to surrounding traffic. Still, the outcome demonstrates the difficult tradeoff involved in ending high-speed pursuits: the suspect was caught, but two people who had no part in the chase were sent to the hospital with serious injuries.