Highway Police honors officers for protest work

LITTLE ROCK — Three members of the Arkansas Highway Police were recognized for their actions on the night of June 5 when a man was shot and killed in downtown Little Rock.

William Cash, a patrol officer first class, and Sgt. Jeremy Watkins received Medals of Valor, the first time the agency, an arm of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, has given its highest award, which dates to the 1980s. The third officer, Sevelta Mackey, also a patrol officer first class, received the agency’s Distinguished Service Award.

All three were among 47 Highway Police officers assigned to a unified command led by the Arkansas State Police in the vicinity of the Capitol to monitor protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

The Arkansas Highway Police agency enforces federal and state regulations governing commercial vehicles and their drivers on state and U.S. highways, including weight limits, licensing and maintenance, and safety inspections.

All are sworn law enforcement officers.

Cash, who has been with the agency since January 2019, and Watkins, who joined it in October 2004, were partners in a patrol unit on June 5 when they heard a radio call about a fatal shooting witnessed by a federal agent and headed to the location given. It was one of two homicides that happened in the city that day.

A suspect in the shooting fled and avoided one Highway Police unit that tried to intercept his vehicle. Cash steered his vehicle directly into the suspect’s vehicle, a maneuver that disabled it, said Jay Thompson, chief of the Highway Police.

“Cash and Watkins held their position as trained and provided cover for …[a] state trooper who approached the vehicle and took the suspect into custody without additional injuries or death,” Thompson said during a presentation on Wednesday before the Highway Commission. “The actions taken by Sgt. Watkins and Pfc. Cash to apprehend a known, armed murder suspect put their lives in imminent danger and displayed gallantry beyond the call of duty.”

Meanwhile, Mackey was cited for his efforts at Baptist Health Medical Center the same night to help control family members of a homicide victim “who were all visibly upset and emotional,” Thompson said.

Mackey, who joined the agency in December 2014, also was able to convince hospital officials to allow the father to see his dead son, Thompson said.