This story gives a whole new meaning to the term hot pursuit. A man on a motorcycle was ordered to pull over by police, but instead, he hit the gas and tried to run away, hitting speeds up to 80 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood.
Fortunately, it was early in the morning and there were few cars and which avoided a tragedy. As he was running red lights, he had a near miss with a car that was just crossing in his path.
A motorcycle driver ran a red light near Asher Avenue and S Pine St in Little Rock, Arkansas. That was when he was spotted by police and urged to pull over.
The driver refused and that could be the biggest mistake he has ever made. The Arkansas State Police officers notified headquarters that the suspect was driving dangerously at speeds up to 80 miles per hour and in a short stretch on the highway hit speeds up to 110 miles per hour. In several instances, the officers pulled up to him, but they didn’t make contact with the motorcycle.
About nine minutes into the chase the man pulled onto an unpaved street and wrecked. He took off on foot with the officers chasing him.
He slipped and fell, at which time one of the shot him with a taser to stop him, but he immediately burst into flames. It is not yet known if gasoline from the wreck or whether he had some kind of accelerant on him, but he burst into flames.
#Arkansas
*potentially disturbing*
Dashcam video (reportedly in Little Rock) from October 13th shows a pursuit suspect on a motorcycle fleeing from police on foot when a taser is used; igniting the suspect into a roaring fireball. They apparently had a jerrycan in their backpack. pic.twitter.com/hFqVqzMVLe— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) October 21, 2022
The suspect cried out “Help me” as the officers retrieved fire extinguishers and put out the flames. The man was badly burned. The officers then cut off the man’s melted jacket and performed what first aid they could before the ambulance arrived.
One officer said to the suspect “Bet you think twice next time.” The suspect probably is hoping there is no next time. The case is still open and all aspects will be investigated in order to ascertain exactly what happened.
Here is a full video of the chase and the aftermath:
If the Taser had triggered the fire in this incident, it wouldn’t be the first time in recent months.
On February 27, a sheriff’s deputy in Osceola County, Florida, caught up to a suspect who had similarly evaded law enforcement on a motorcycle. The suspect, Jean Barreto, pulled into a Wawa gas station to fill up his vehicle.
Spotting Barreto, Deputy David Crawford tried to make an arrest. Barreto resisted, prompting Crawford to use force.
Crawford fired his Taser at Barreto, accidentally sparking the gasoline that had been spilled in the fracas.
Barreto allegedly wound up with burns over 75% of his body. Crawford was also hospitalized but quickly released.
On October 30, 2019, 29-year-old Jason Jones reportedly rushed into the Catskill Police Department in Greene County, New York. Agitated and argumentative — having been told earlier to leave a bar by police officers — he confronted police, reportedly wanting to talk about how the officers had “handled the situation.”
He became argumentative and he ripped off his shirt and doused himself with hand sanitizer. The situation seemed to be escalating and an officer pulled out his taser. Who knew the hand sanitizer was so flammable? Jones was taken to the hospital and after 45 days he died from his injuries,
