Kidnapping suspect pursued 45 minutes
Saline County sheriff: Mom abducted
A Saline County man accused of kidnapping his mother and leading authorities on a high-speed chase into Little Rock Tuesday afternoon faces numerous charges.
Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington said Carlton Johnston led authorities on a 45-minute pursuit that started in Saline County and ended near Lamar Porter Field at 3200 W. Seventh St. in Little Rock.
Johnston’s vehicle crashed into two Saline County sheriff ’s office cars and sideswiped a Little Rock police car before coming to a stop, Pennington said.
Pennington said Johnston was arrested by Saline County deputies and will be charged with kidnapping and potentially more felonies, after he reportedly took his aging mother from her home against her will.
Johnston’s mother, whom Pennington didn’t identify, told a friend who had called her earlier Tuesday afternoon that her son was “holding her against her will.”
The friend called the sheriff’s office, according to Pennington, and a detective got her on the phone immediately.
“They asked if she was
being held against her will,” Pennington said. “They asked … ‘are you fearful for your life?’ and she said ‘very, very.’”
According to Pennington, Johnston, who is in his 20s, was being sought after he “recently” walked out of a drug-rehabilitation program at the State Hospital. However, Department of Human Services spokesman Amy Webb said that Johnston did not walk out of the State Hospital.
Pennington said that Johnston took his mother with him in a car and that deputies caught up with them on Chicot Road near the Pulaski County line.
“He was out drinking [earlier]. … He called over to 911 and told us to back off,” Pennington said.
Deputies followed Johnston into Little Rock and were joined by officers from Little Rock as well as the Arkansas State Police. They followed him as far as the Interstate 30/Interstate 440 split, to Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/ Adams Field, and back through downtown Little Rock, with the pursuit ending in a crash just west of West Seventh and South Johnson streets.
Despite Johnston’s “attempts to disable” law enforcement vehicles, Pennington said no one was seriously injured in the crashes.
Police arrested Johnston immediately and found a baseball bat on the vehicle’s floorboard.
Pennington said that in addition to the kidnapping charge out of Saline County, he expects that Johnston will face charges from both Little Rock and the state police.
According to the sheriff, all Johnston’s mother asked was to go home.
A dog in the back seat, which belonged to a friend of Johnston’s mother, panted and peeked its head out the back window while detectives processed the crash.