Florida Men Charged After 42 Pounds Of Meth Thrown From Jeep During 100 Mph Chase On I-40 Near Hazen

DES ARC, Ark. – Two Florida men were formally charged Wednesday in Prairie County after police say the driver of a Jeep Wrangler fled a traffic stop on Interstate 40 at about 100 mph in August while packages of methamphetamine, about 42 pounds in all, were thrown out onto the interstate.

Derrick Jerome Talbert, 30, and Joseph Bennett Bethune, 30, both of St. Petersburg, Florida, are each charged with trafficking methamphetamine, a Class Y felony, and tampering with physical evidence, according to criminal informations filed by Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Norene Smith of the 17th Judicial District. Talbert, the driver, also faces felony fleeing in a vehicle, and both are charged with misdemeanor fleeing on foot.

Hazen police Officer Colton Felts stopped the Jeep on eastbound I-40 near mile marker 190 at about 10:20 p.m. Aug. 22 after seeing it following another vehicle too closely, according to a probable-cause affidavit by Agent James Cavin of the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force.

A records check showed both men had prior drug arrests, the affidavit says. Talbert refused to consent to a search, so Felts asked the two to step out of the Jeep so he could walk his police dog around it.

“Talbert then put the vehicle in drive and fled at a high rate of speed,” Cavin wrote. “During the pursuit, speeds reached approximately 100 mph.”

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As the Jeep ran, Felts watched “multiple packages of methamphetamine being thrown from the vehicle out onto the interstate,” the affidavit says. The chase ended when the Jeep left the roadway at the Biscoe exit. Both men ran but were caught.

Officers went back and collected the packages from the interstate. Their combined gross weight came to about 42 pounds, the affidavit says.

Both men were booked into the Prairie County jail. At a first appearance Aug. 26, a district judge set bond at $100,000 each. Bail bonds in that amount through a Higden bonding company were filed with the court Wednesday along with the charges.

Trafficking a controlled substance applies to 200 grams or more of methamphetamine and carries 10 to 40 years or life in prison. Forty-two pounds is roughly 19,000 grams. The tampering count accuses each man of trying to run on foot with a package of methamphetamine.

The cases are assigned to the Southern District of Prairie County Circuit Court in Des Arc. Charges are accusations, and both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.