Driver jailed after high-speed chase

A Pulaski County sheriff’s deputy pursued a pickup at speeds up to 100 mph early Thursday before the driver made a quick U-turn and began traveling directly at the officer’s patrol car, according to a preliminary report.

Sheriff’s Deputy Terri Nichols wrote that the pickup came within 10 feet of her vehicle before she reversed to avoid a collision.

The pickup driver, identified by authorities as 42-yearold John A. Hobbs of Jacksonville, crashed a short time later and fled on foot before being arrested, authorities said. He faces a number of charges, including aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and theft by receiving.

Nichols began investigating shortly after midnight Wednesday when she spotted the Chevrolet Silverado parked at St. Luke Baptist Church off Arkansas 161.

The tags were found to be fictitious, and Hobbs “became very agitated” when questioned, the report said. He was then asked to get out of his vehicle.

“Hobbs did not exit the vehicle, advised that the truck would probably return as stolen and that he did not want to go back to jail,” Nichols wrote. “At this time, Hobbs shut the driver door and fled in the vehicle out of the parking lot.”

The pickup traveled north on Arkansas 161 and then west on Arkansas 440, reaching speeds up to 100 mph, Nichols wrote. Hobbs later “initiated an illegal U-turn and charged directly head on toward my vehicle,” she wrote.

“Subject came within approximately 10 feet from my vehicle when I changed gears into reverse while turning my wheel and missing the vehicle,” Nichols wrote. The pickup crashed a short time later into woods off the highway.

Hobbs remained in the Pulaski County jail later Thursday morning with bail not yet set.