A newly uncovered video shows the Arkansas State Police performing a PIT maneuver on a fleeing suspect at 113 mph (181 km/h). It’s not the first time that ASP has done something similar but at least this time nobody was seriously injured. Questions regarding the safety of using this tactic at such speeds in traffic continue to swirl.
According to the description of this video posted on the YouTube Channel Police Pursuits, the pursuit of this suspect began around Hazen, Arkansas. That’s about 40 miles (64 km) from where the PIT maneuver takes place in North Little Rock. The exact location of the contact is just past a busy highway intersection and happened with traffic all around both the suspect car and the police car.
In fact, the officer PITs the Nissan SUV just before it reaches a heavy-duty dump truck. As the contact takes place at over 100 mph, it takes quite a while for the SUV to come to a stop and it only does so after rolling over. Thankfully, nobody, including the surrounding bystanders, was seriously injured.
Read: Arkansas State Police Arrest Over 600 People During Traffic Stops In One Weekend
According to local news THV11, Kevin Davis, a 39-year veteran of law enforcement who now trains cops on how and when to use force, says that “Normally, the P.I.T. maneuver is not done at speeds in excess of 35 miles per hour.” Public data from the ASP says that between 2018 and 2021 it used a PIT maneuver on average about two times a week.
In that time span, three suspects died and 204 were injured. Moreover, 43 troopers and 38 civilians were also hurt in the process.
In one notable case, Arkansas State Police used a PIT maneuver at speeds close to 130 mph (209 km/h) that sent both the suspect and the officer flying into the air. That incident ended in the death of the suspect and a severe injury to the officer. According to the aforementioned video description, the suspect, Tego Coldero, was taken into custody by the Hazen Police Department on charges of DWI, Felony Fleeing, and Aggravated Assault.