Charge dismissed in felony fleeing case
A felony fleeing charge against a Hot Springs Village man who allegedly led Hot Springs Village police on a high-speed pursuit last year was dismissed Tuesday after a bench trial in Garland County Circuit Court.
Shane Alexander Clark, 24, was arrested Aug. 11, 2017, on a felony warrant stemming from the pursuit, which reportedly occurred on July 25. In addition to the felony fleeing count, punishable by up to six years in prison, he was charged with misdemeanor counts of reckless driving and driving on a suspended driver’s license.
Garland County Public Defender Tim Beckham, who represented Clark, filed a motion for a directed verdict in the case after Hot Springs Village Police Sgt. Jack Herndon testified and wasn’t able to positively identify Clark as the driver of the vehicle in the pursuit.
Judge John Homer Wright ruled it couldn’t be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and dismissed the charge.
“The witness that initially identified (Clark) was unable to be located by the state,” Beckham said Thursday.
The reckless driving charge and driving on a suspended driver’s license were withdrawn after Clark was able to provide proof he had a driver’s license.
According to the affidavit, on July 25, 2017, shortly before 10 p.m., Herndon was dispatched to the area of Cambre Circle regarding the driver of a white truck spinning his tires and arguing with a resident there.
Herndon was told the truck had left the scene and he spotted a white truck northbound on Carmona that turned onto
DeSoto Boulevard. Herndon notes he was only about 500 feet behind the truck, but when he got to the intersection the truck was nowhere in sight.
He caught up with the truck on DeSoto and paced it at 54 mph in a 40 mph zone and noted it was following closely behind a car ahead, accelerating and slowing down “as if to make the vehicle in front of him move out of the way.”
The car in front finally turned off and the truck contin-
ued west on DeSoto as Herndon activated his lights to make a traffic stop. The truck accelerated to a high rate of speed at that point and Herndon noted it reached speeds in excess of 94 mph as he pursued it to the west gate of the village.
As the truck went through the west gate, it almost struck a motorcycle also exiting and continued at a high rate of speed after passing through the gate until Herndon finally terminated the pursuit. He noted it was a white Chevrolet extended cab pickup with Texas tags.
Herndon later spoke to the resident on Cambre who said he had heard a truck “revving its engine” and spinning its tires. He said a young white man got out of the truck at one point and was talking to the resident’s female neighbor. He said he yelled at the man asking what his problem was and he “made some rude comments” and sped away.
Herndon spoke to the female neighbor who identified the driver as Clark and noted he had just purchased the truck in Texas. A computer check reportedly revealed Clark’s driver’s license was suspended. A warrant was later issued.