Bail is $1M for Jonesboro man accused of kidnapping infant

A Jonesboro man was given a $1 million bond Friday after authorities said he kidnapped a 6-month-old child last month and led police on a high-speed chase, hanging the baby out a window of an SUV during the pursuit.

The Jonesboro Police Department released video and information Friday on the arrest of Bennie Irving Hancock, 37, who is charged with kidnapping in the June 30 incident.

Police said the mother of the child told officers that her boyfriend had taken her son from their home and was traveling in her vehicle.

Hancock fled from police while the child was in his lap, according to a summary of an incident report posted Friday on the Jonesboro Police Department’s Facebook page.

During multiple calls between Hancock and the child’s mother, Hancock threatened to kill himself, the child and anyone else while he was fleeing, according to the police summary.

Poinsett County sheriff’s office deputies located Hancock heading south on Arkansas 1 in Poinsett County, but

he refused to stop, according to the report. His vehicle struck a deputy’s patrol unit near Harrisburg.

The pursuit entered Cross County, where Hancock traveled through a highway work zone north of Cherry Valley, according to the report. Officers said a construction worker ran off the road to avoid being hit by Hancock’s vehicle, which was traveling at high rates of speed.

Video captured the intensity of the pursuit.

“Jesus, what do we do?” an Arkansas State Police officer can be heard saying in a dashboard camera video. “Do we let him kill other people?”

The report said a Poinsett County deputy witnessed Hancock hanging the child out the window during the pursuit.

The vehicle Hancock was driving stalled multiple times. Video shows intense interactions between Hancock and the police during pauses in the pursuit.

Video from a Cherry Valley Police Department dashboard camera shows an officer pulling out a gun and demanding that Hancock get on the ground, but he fled again.

“He’s got the baby in the driver’s seat,” an officer can be heard saying while training his firearm on the vehicle.

Seconds later, an officer is heard saying that Hancock had the baby hanging out the window, but it couldn’t be seen on the video.

“The baby is back in the vehicle at this time,” an officer said on the video after Hancock’s vehicle stalled for a second time before driving away again.

Each time the vehicle stalled, Hancock refused to exit or surrender the child, officials say.

“We got to get him stopped,” an officer is heard saying on video. “Next time we got to get a vehicle in front of him.”

A pickup driven by a civilian struck the SUV at one point, but the video shows that Hancock continued to flee after regaining control of the vehicle.

Officers eventually put a car in front of Hancock’s vehicle, but video shows him turning down a gravel road and continuing to flee at high speeds. At one point during the pursuit, Hancock appears to attempt to hit cars headon that had pulled over to the side of the road.

The SUV was eventually stopped by State Police using a “pit maneuver” on Hancock’s vehicle, which then crashed, according to the report. A pit maneuver is a tactic during which a pursuing car forces a fleeing vehicle to abruptly turn sideways, causing the driver to lose control and stop.

The police department’s post said the child was flown to Le Bonheur Hospital in Memphis for observation and has since been released. The child is reported in good condition, according to the post.

Hancock’s next court appearance is Aug. 28 at the Craighead County Courthouse.