Man who fled police sentenced to 4 years
A Malvern man who led Hot Springs police on a high-speed pursuit earlier this year was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to felony charges.
Melvin Louis Ollison Jr., 35, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to fleeing in a vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia and was sentenced to four years on each count, to run concurrently, fined $500 and ordered to pay $295 in court costs.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on June 22,
around 12:30 a.m., Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Rod West observed an unlicensed white Nissan Altima traveling east on Hollywood Avenue.
West caught up to the vehicle at Delaware and Highland streets and attempted to perform a traffic stop, but the vehicle turned right on Ewing Street and accelerated, turning left back onto Hollywood without stopping at the stop sign.
The vehicle accelerated to 65 mph and turned right on Talisman toward Trivista and reportedly continued to fail to stop at stop signs. It turned onto Trivista and the driver ignored the traffic signal at Central Avenue. The pursuit continued at around 70 mph to Third Street, then to Greenwood, and finally onto South Patterson Street where the driver jumped out while the vehicle was moving slowly and fled on foot.
West noted the driver “manifested extreme indifference to the value of human life” during the pursuit.
After a short foot chase, Ollison was placed into custody on Greenwood. Officers located a glass pipe “used to smoke meth” in the middle console of the Altima.
In addition to the felony charges, Ollison was cited for driving on a suspended driver’s license, careless and prohibited driving, failure to stop at a red light, failure to yield and having no liability insurance. On Aug.
13, he appeared via video in Garland County District Court and pleaded guilty to all the traffic charges and was sentenced to
30 days in jail.