Man arrested on 8 felony charges while already detained
Police seek suspect in high-speed chase
Two separate bonds were issued Monday for an El Dorado man who was arrested on warrants for several felony charges while he was already being held in the Union County Jail on unrelated charges.
Markeitheon D. Turner, 18, of 2014 Lakeland, made his first appearance in
35th Judicial
Court after being arrested Friday on charges connected to incidents that occurred in
2016 and 2015.
For his alleged role in the shooting of an El Dorado woman on June 20, 2015, Turner received a $50,000 cash or corporate surety for first-degree battery, aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and terroristic act, all with penalty enhancements for offenses committed in the presence of a child and felony with a firearm.
A $25,000 bond, cash or corporate surety, was also set for Turner on charges of second-degree battery and engaging in a continuing criminal gang, organization or enterprise.
Turner allegedly participated in an attack that left a man with a broken finger on March 19, 2016.
Turner was already being held on bonds totaling $75,000 for theft of property ($25,000) and aggravated robbery ($50,000) as part of cases that are pending in Union County Circuit Court.
He is scheduled for an appearance in Circuit Court on Aug. 15 for those charges.
Capt. Kevin Holt, public information officer for the El Dorado Police Department, said ongoing investigations into the 2015 shooting and the 2016 battery led to arrest warrants being issued last week for Turner.
Turner was identified as a suspect in the 2015 incident in which a woman was shot in the leg.
Jennifer New, then 25, was reportedly shot at her residence in the 2300 block of Oxford.
Police said New was bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound on her lower right leg, noting that there was standing blood on the driver’s side floorboard of her vehicle.
New was treated at Medical Center of South Arkansas and Baptist Health Medical Center in
Little Rock.
She told police that three men had come to her residence, adding that she knew one of the men by a nickname.
New said she left the residence after becoming “irritated” by the men.
She said she had hoped they would leave, but they were still there when she returned a short time later.
When she pulled into the driveway, one of the men approached the passenger side of her vehicle, reached through the window and began removing items from the vehicle, including her wallet, New told police.
New said she then accelerated out of the driveway and a shot was fired. New said a bullet struck her in the right leg.
Turner was later identified as one of the suspects.
Another man, 26-yearold Robert J. Fields, was arrested in November 2016 on a warrant in connection to the shooting.
On March 19, 2016, Kelvin Jackson told officers that he was walking along Short East Hillsboro when three men approached him with sticks and threatened him.
Jackson said the suspects then began striking him with the sticks and their fists. He said he fought back and was able to get away from the men.
Jackson said he knew the men by their nicknames, noting that one of the suspects was related to his ex-girlfriend.
Police said they learned that Jackson’s left, middle finger was broken while he was undergoing treatment at Medical Center of South Arkansas.
They said Jackson also had welts on his arms and a laceration on his left arm.
In May, Turner was arrested on a warrant for aggravated robbery after he admitted to committing an armed robbery at Pizza Hut, 337 W. Hillsboro.
The robbery was reported just before 9 p.m. April 24.
An employee reported that a man ordered a pizza and attempted to pay with a $100 bill.
The employee said that when she told the man she couldn’t make change for the large bill, he walked outside.
Moments later, he came back inside the business and waited in line with other customers, the employee said.
She said he then approached the counter and produced a revolver from the right side of the pocket on the front of his hoodie.
He ordered her to open the cash register and demanded money. The employee said she complied, and the suspect took cash in denominations of $50, $20, $10 and $5.
She said the suspect raised the cash drawer, and when he saw there wasn’t any cash there, he left the business, exiting through the west door.
Detectives identified Turner as a suspect, and during an interview, he told investigators that “he has been upset and had no reasonable explanation … as to why he robbed” Pizza Hut.
Turner said he spent the stolen cash at two local businesses a couple of days after the robbery.
Chase
El Dorado police are looking for a motorcyclist who led them on a highspeed chase through several city streets early Sunday morning.
Officers said they were investigating an unrelated incident involving a vehicle in the 1000 block of North Madison at 3:30 a.m. when they heard a motorcycle approaching at a high rate of speed.
With their patrol units parked in the roadway, police said they used their flashlights in an attempt to warn the driver to slow down.
They said the motorcycle topped a hill while traveling north on Madison, but the driver did not slow down as he neared the patrol units.
The motorcycle swerved, narrowly missing one of the patrol units as officers continued shining their flashlights and issuing verbal commands for the driver to stop, according to a police report.
Officer said the suspect yelled, seemingly “in excitement,” stopped at the four-way stop signs at Madison and Fifth and sped away, with tires “squealing.”
Police said they caught up to the motorcycle at another four-way stop at Madison and 10th and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.
Instead, the motorcycle accelerated, police said, turned west on 10th, and disregarded a traffic light at North West Avenue.
A chase ensued and wound through several streets — including Melrose, Hillcrest, Oakhurst Newton, Parkway, College and Eighth —, with the motorcycle hitting speeds of more than 90 miles per hour, police said.
The suspect worked his way back toward North West Avenue and headed north to U.S. 167 B/Calion Highway.
There, police said the motorcycle accelerated to 100 miles per hour.
Police said they decided to end the pursuit, citing safety for the suspect, officers and the general public.
Officers said they pulled onto the shoulder of the road and while discussing the incident, they heard a motorcycle approach from the west.
Police determined that it was the same motorcycle that was involved in the chase, and when the driver saw them, he completed a U-turn and sped away.
Police said they then proceeded in the same direction, traveling at “a normal speed,” without activating emergency lights and sirens, but they lost sight of the motorcycle.
The suspect was reportedly wearing a black T-shirt with white lettering, blue jeans, tennis shows and a black “ball cap.”
They said the motorcycle was black and resembled a Harley Davidson Street model.
The motorcycle did not have a license plate, police said.