“Just trying to get my sister home!”

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS — On May 24, 2020, at approximately 5:30 a.m., Arkansas State Police Trooper Steve Miller was dispatched to the area of I-430 North and Colonel Glenn for reports of street racers shutting down the interstate.

From the report of Trooper Miller, lightly edited for clarity and brevity: I responded to a common area the “racers” like to hang out and located approximately 50-70 vehicles in the parking lot of the Cinemark Rave Theater. Once I arrived, I drove through the parking lot and the vehicles began to scatter. The vehicles were leaving at normal speed and were not fleeing the area recklessly. Once vehicles started to clear out of the parking lot, I did as well, traveling east on Colonel Glenn towards I-430.

I was stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of Colonel Glenn and the I-430 South ramps when I observed two vehicles, a red Ford Mustang and a small black passenger car traveling the wrong way on Colonel Glenn. The two vehicles were traveling east in the westbound lanes and passed me at the intersection where I was stopped. I activated my emergency lights and siren and pursued the two vehicles. I followed the vehicles onto I-430 north and was able to catch up to the red Mustang. The red Mustang started to move to the outside shoulder and slow down. The small black vehicle continued to travel I-430 north and increased speed so I chose to pursue that vehicle.

The suspect vehicle changed speeds and lanes repeatedly while traveling I-430 north. We reached speeds over 100mph while approaching the Shackleford exit and came up on a group of vehicles that were traveling north. The suspect vehicle quickly veered in front of the group of vehicles traveling north and slowed the vehicle abruptly, all while being pursued with lights and sirens. The driver’s abrupt braking caused me to momentarily overtake his vehicle. He traveled toward the outside shoulder and then back into the outside lane.

I was able to get back behind the suspect vehicle and get the group of vehicles behind us to slow down. The suspect vehicle began to speed back up, at which point I put my vehicle in position to safely end the pursuit. I steered my vehicle to the passenger side of the suspect to perform a PIT maneuver. As I steered my vehicle close to suspect vehicle, the suspect vehicle braked again — causing our vehicles to collide.

My vehicle continued straight and the suspect vehicle traveled around the front of my vehicle and down the passenger side. I was able to recover and turned around. I then observed the suspect vehicle pointing in the opposite direction, south in the northbound lanes. The vehicle was slowly rolling, so I attempted to stop it by pinning the passenger side door with the front of my vehicle. At that time, I noticed the driver’s door was open and the driver, later identified as Arthur Joyner, was standing in the roadway way pleading his reason for not stopping: trying to get his sister home.

The vehicle, with the passenger still in it, continued to slowly roll away. I put my vehicle in park and advised Joyner to get on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Joyner cooperated and was taken into custody without incident. I placed Joyner in the back of my vehicle and traveled south on I-430 north to catch up to the vehicle that was still rolling south.

The passenger, Brianna Gaston had been able to get into the driver’s seat and stop the vehicle on outside (east) shoulder. I had Gaston exit the vehicle and took her into custody without incident. Highway Police officer Watson arrived on scene to assist.

Asher Wrecker towed Joyner’s vehicle from the scene and I released Gaston to Officer Watson to transport her home. I transported Joyner to Pulaski County jail and charged him accordingly.

5-54-125(d)(2): FLEEING – FELONY – VEHICLE OR CONVEYANCE – SUBSTANTIAL DANGER OF DEATH
27-16-602: NO DRIVER LICENSE OR LICENSE EXPIRED
27-51-304: DRIVING WRONG WAY ON ONE-WAY ROADWAY
27-50-308(b)(1)(B) 1ST: RECKLESS DRIVING – 1ST

On December 8, 2020, Arthur Joyner, Jr. was sentenced to three years probation, $1,370 in fines, 30 hours of community service within one year, and – if I’m interpreting the cryptic sentencing memo correctly – 25 days of jail credit toward the fines.

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