Motorcycle crash is focus of lawsuit
Man faults lawman’s actions in pursuit
A federal jury is scheduled to decide in November whether Plumerville’s assistant police chief acted reasonably in parking his SUV across both lanes of a two-lane highway to stop a fleeing motorcycle, causing the rider to crash and later have his leg amputated.
According to court documents, the officer was trying to help police in nearby Morrilton stop Christopher Lankford, who was driving a 2007 Harley-Davidson motorcycle, but didn’t know what had prompted the highspeed pursuit.
Lankford, now 32, contends in a lawsuit that he was being pursued over a minor infraction and that Assistant Chief Albert Duvall used deadly force without justification, partly because he wasn’t properly trained. Lankford is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Duvall and the department.
Reports say Lankford was traveling at a speed of 88 mph to 100 mph when he came around a bend in the road, where the patrol vehicle was waiting in the shadows, and with nowhere else to go, he slammed into the rear passenger side of the SUV.
The impact pushed the patrol vehicle back several feet, and Lankford bounced off the vehicle and landed
face-down on the road, according to a Morrilton officer who saw the accident. The report said it appeared that the motorcycle had tried to go around the patrol vehicle but couldn’t avoid hitting it.
Lankford was taken by helicopter to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, where he was treated for a gash in his head and several broken bones, and his right leg was amputated, according to court documents.
An attorney for the Arkansas Municipal League, which is representing Duvall and the city, has asked U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. to throw the case out, arguing that Duvall was doing his job and is entitled to qualified immunity. But attorneys for Lankford, of Casa, say immunity doesn’t apply because Duvall’s actions were objectively unreasonable and that the use of force and training issues must be settled by a jury.
Moody is expected to decide whether to dismiss the case or let it proceed to trial sometime after Sept. 1, a final deadline for written arguments.
According to the lawsuit and the Morrilton officer’s report, the accident occurred shortly after 5 p.m. on Oct. 10, 2018, a Wednesday, on U.S. 64
Moody is expected to decide whether to dismiss the case or let it proceed to trial sometime after Sept. 1, a final deadline for written arguments.
on the outskirts of Plumerville in Conway County.
Officer Taylor Dube of the Morrilton Police Department wrote that he initiated the pursuit after a motorcycle passed him on Arkansas 9 at the Interstate 40 off-ramp with its front tire in the air, traveling at an estimated 50 mph. He said he saw a man on the back of the motorcycle fall off, then jump back up and get back on.
Dube said he activated his blue lights and tried to catch up with the motorcyclist, who kept turning onto side streets, and then saw Lankford pull up to a stop sign and the passenger jump off. He said the motorcycle roared off at high speed, prompting a pursuit that continued beyond the city limits, with Lankford “weaving in and out of traffic at speeds of over 100 mph.”
The incident report, which included observations of other officers, noted that Lankford was later determined to have several outstanding warrants and that a smoking device containing a substance suspected to be marijuana was found in his back pocket. It also said that he and his passenger, Jerry Davis, whom police found walking in Morrilton, had been drinking.
Davis told police that Lankford told him just before the pursuit shifted into high gear that unless he was up for a 120 mph ride, he needed to get off the motorcycle. Dupe’s report said, “Davis stated he was not dying today so he jumped off.”
In asking Moody to dismiss the lawsuit, Municipal League attorney Sara Monaghan said that Duvall “did not intend for Mr. Lankford to collide with his vehicle,” saying the assistant chief left room for Lankford to slow down and go around the front or back of the patrol vehicle.
“Mr. Lankford also could have simply applied his [brakes] and stopped to avoid colliding with Asst. Chief Duvall’s vehicle,” she said.
“It is undisputed that [the] vehicle was clearly visible on Lankford’s long approach,” Monaghan said, citing video from Dube’s dashboard camera. “Officer Duvall had activated his vehicle’s flashing lights, and the crash occurred in clear weather during daylight hours.”