Driver arrested following pursuit
An allegedly intoxicated driver was arrested on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges late Friday after reportedly fleeing from a routine traffic stop and later threatening Hot Springs police.
Duane Robert Starr, 44, who lists a Catherine Park Road address, was taken into custody just before 10 p.m. and charged with fleeing in a vehicle and first-degree terroristic threatening, both felonies punishable by up to six years in prison, and misdemeanor charges of failure to pay registration, driving on a suspended license, no liability insurance, resisting arrest and driving while intoxi- cated, second offense.
Starr remained in custody Monday in lieu of bonds totaling
$8,000 and is set to appear
June 26 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, police Officer Thomas Goad attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle on Highway
171 after he noticed the vehicle’s tags were expired. The officer followed the vehicle for a mile or more, with lights and sirens activated, as the driver, later identified as Starr, refused to stop.
Starr reportedly turned down a gravel road and continued on before finally pulling into a driveway in the 100 block of Savoy Street where he finally stopped. Starr then allegedly exited the vehicle and refused to comply with Goad’s request for him to raise his hands. Goad said he had to grab Starr and physically restrain him as he continued to resist and insisted he “had done nothing wrong.”
A breathalyzer test reportedly registered Starr’s blood alcohol level as .08 percent, so he was charged with DWI. It was determined he had been previously convicted of DWI and his driver’s license was still suspended.
Shortly after he was placed in handcuffs, Starr allegedly became verbally abusive, telling Goad “he had better grow eyes in the back of his head (because) when he got out of prison some people got a vendetta coming.”