Clay police arrest women in chase
High-speed pursuit in Clay County ends in PIT move, ramming of vehicles
Clay County deputies and Corning police early Friday arrested two women after a high-speed chase that ended in an attempted PIT maneuver and the ramming of police vehicles, a news release from the sheriff’s office states.
A Clay County deputy around 1:54 a.m. Friday tried to pull over an SUV in Corning that had defective equipment, but the driver refused to stop and sped off, leading the deputy on a chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, the release from Clay County Sheriff Ronnie Cole states.
As the driver, later identified as Alissa Sue Morrow-Moore, 27, of Pocahontas, led the deputy along county roads and onto U.S. 67, Corning police joined the chase, which progressed onto Arkansas 211 and then onto County Road 108.
The Corning officer attempted to PIT the SUV on the county road, the release states. The Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT maneuver, involves ramming the rear wheel of a fleeing vehicle to try to spin it out and end the pursuit.
In Arkansas, the maneuver is mainly done by Arkansas State Police, and many city police departments have banned their officers from attempting any sort of ramming.
The Corning officer succeeded in spinning the SUV out of control temporarily, causing it to rotate 180 degrees, but Morrow-Moore drove back toward officers when she regained control, ramming a deputy’s vehicle head-on, the release states.
Morrow-Moore then backed up, hitting a Corning police vehicle that was trying to box her in. The Corning officer used the police vehicle to pin the SUV against the Clay County deputy’s truck.
Police at this point noticed two small children that were passengers in the SUV, and were able to remove them and Morrow-Moore from the vehicle before a passenger, identified as Melissa Alleda Page, 27, of Maynard, got behind the wheel and tried to escape by ramming into the deputy’s truck again.
The deputy climbed on top of their truck to avoid being struck before officers got Page into custody.
A search of the SUV located suspected methamphetamine, Clonazepam and marijuana. The children, aged 6 and 7, were screened for injury by paramedics and turned over to the state Department of Human Services.
Morrow-Moore and Page each face two felony counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor and first-degree battery, one felony count each of fleeing, meth possession and drug possession, as well as misdemeanor counts of careless and prohibited driving, not wearing a seatbelt and drug possession. Morrow-Moore faces three additional misdemeanor charges of failure to stop at a stop sign.