High-speed pursuit ends in crash

DECATUR — A high-speed pursuit along Arkansas Highway 59 ended with a 2010 white Chevrolet Equinox crashing through a sign and into a culvert in Decatur on April 14, ending with the arrest or detention of the vehicle’s five occupants.

At about 6 p.m., an officer with the Siloam Springs Police Department responded to a report of a careless driver entering his city from the east on U.S. 412 Highway. Police said that when the officer attempted to intercept the white SUV, the driver, later identified as Jerryon Montyz Steele, of Tulsa, Okla., fled from the Siloam Springs police officer, making a turn north on Arkansas Highway 59.

The pursuit continued through Gentry, where officers from that city and Benton County Sheriffs Office joined in the chase. According to the affidavit of probable cause, speeds reached were in excess of 100 mph, with the SUV crossing the centerline numerous times.

Decatur Police officer Nate Tucker attempted to stop the SUV by deploying the Stinger Spike System near the Simmons Hatchery, about a mile south of the Decatur city limits. The driver was able to avoid the stop strips and the pursuit continued into Decatur.

Traveling at a high rate of speed, the SUV was unable to negotiate the curve at Arkansas Highway 59 and Hill Ave. and the vehicle left the highway,

crossing Hill Ave. entering the parking area at Decatur United Methodist Church.

The pursuit ended when the vehicle crashed through a footbridge and into a culvert on Third Avenue. The SUV was severely damaged.

There were five occupants in the SUV, four adults and a 17-year-old juvenile. All were taken into police custody.

The Decatur Fire Department was called in to assist with injuries.

Three of the vehicle occupants were transported by Northwest Health Ambulance Service to Siloam Springs Regional Hospital, the other two were transported to Ozarks Community Hospital in Gravette.

The adults arrested, according to the Benton County Jail website and confirmed by the Siloam Springs Police Department, were Jerryon Montyz Steele, 20, of Tulsa, Okla.; Yi’Twan Ke’Ai’Reun Gipson, 18, of Tulsa; Terrance Rayshon Briggs, 18, of Tulsa, and Catherine Nicole Sullivan, 19, of Sand Springs, Okla.

Charges listed in connection with the incident included theft of property, theft by receiving and fleeing by vehicle with extreme indifference (all felonies), along with numerous other traffic violations. The four were being held in the Benton County Jail on April 15 with no bond set.

In the course of an inventory of the wrecked vehicle, about $7,000 worth of stolen clothing was found.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the vehicle occupants had, shortly before the chase, entered an Academy Sports store in Fayetteville and grabbed a large quantity of clothing, loaded the clothing into the white SUV and fled from the store.

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS A white SUV came to rest in a ditch near Third Street in Decatur April 14 after failing to negotiate the curve on Arkansas Highway 59 near Hill Avenue (upper left). After leaving the highway, the vehicle sideswiped a sign before smashing into a bridge and into a culvert near the Decatur United Methodist Church building.

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS The rear door panel was ripped off of the SUV.

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS The sign at Decatur United Methodist Church was destroyed after the SUV failed to negotiate the curve on Arkansas Highway 59 and Hill Avenue, eventually coming to rest against a culvert on Third Street.

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS A 15-mile pursuit from Siloam Springs ended when the SUV failed to negotiate the curve at Arkansas Highway 59 and Hill Avenue in Decatur and crashed through a wooden footbridge and into a culvert on Third Street. Five people were in the car at the time. No one was seriously hurt in the incident.

Steele

Gipson

Briggs

Sullivan

Westside Eagle Observer/MIKE ECKELS Two officers from the Siloam Springs Police Department survey the damage after their department engaged the white SUV in a 15-mile high-speed pursuit which involved four agencies April 14. The pursuit ended in Decatur after the pursued vehicle smashed through a sign and a footbridge belonging to Decatur United Methodist Church.