Dashcam footage shows ASP PIT maneuver that seriously injured elderly couple on I-555

TRUMANN, Ark. — Newly released dashcam footage shows the moment an Arkansas State Police trooper’s PIT maneuver during a 130-mph pursuit on Interstate 555 sent a fleeing car careening into an uninvolved SUV, leaving an elderly couple with serious injuries.

The crash happened around 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, near the 28-mile marker of I-555 outside Trumann in Poinsett County. Footage obtained by news outlets this week captures the trooper’s patrol vehicle striking the rear quarter of the fleeing Hyundai Sonata — a technique state police call a Tactical Vehicle Intervention, or TVI — spinning it into a black Toyota SUV that had nothing to do with the chase. The SUV overturned multiple times before coming to rest on the east side of the interstate.

Inside the SUV were a 68-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man. Both suffered serious injuries — the woman reportedly sustained an apparent broken arm and head trauma — and both were transported to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis. Their names have not been released, and their current conditions are unknown.

The pursuit

According to Arkansas State Police, the chase began at about 6:56 p.m. when a trooper, identified in reports as Cpl. Logan Hall, clocked a black Hyundai Sonata traveling 90 mph in a 75-mph zone near the 24-mile marker and attempted a traffic stop. The driver, identified as Laloyd L. Hamilton III, 32, of Forrest City, refused to stop and accelerated to approximately 130 mph.

Roughly four miles later, near the 28-mile marker, the trooper performed the TVI that ended the pursuit — and flipped the bystanders’ SUV.

Hamilton reportedly told investigators he was rushing to reach his daughter because of a medical emergency, a claim family members denied, according to the NEA Report.

Drugs found, charges filed

Troopers searching Hamilton’s vehicle reported finding roughly 44 grams of suspected marijuana, four 30-milligram oxycodone pills, eighteen 60-milligram OxyContin pills and a bottle labeled promethazine with the prescription information scratched off.

Hamilton was taken to NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital in Jonesboro for evaluation and then booked into the Poinsett County Detention Center. He faces charges including felony fleeing involving serious physical injury, second-degree battery, second-degree criminal mischief, possession with purpose to deliver a controlled substance, additional drug counts, driving while intoxicated by drugs, reckless driving involving physical injury and speeding.

State police say the investigation is ongoing. Notably, all charges announced so far are against Hamilton; ASP has not indicated whether the trooper’s decision to perform a PIT maneuver at highway speed with other motorists nearby is under internal review.

A tactic with a troubled history in Arkansas

The crash is the latest flashpoint in a years-long debate over Arkansas State Police’s use of the PIT maneuver, which the agency employs far more aggressively than many departments nationwide.

The tactic drew national attention in 2020, when Trooper Rodney Dunn flipped the SUV of Nicole Harper — who was pregnant at the time — on U.S. 67 near Jacksonville after she slowed and put on her flashers while looking for a safe place to pull over. Harper sued, and state police ultimately determined Dunn had violated the agency’s use-of-force policy. The lawsuit was settled, and ASP rewrote its PIT policy to replace a subjective standard with an objective one.

Critics have long warned that PIT maneuvers become far more dangerous at high speeds. Law enforcement training guidance generally treats the technique as increasingly unpredictable above roughly 40 mph — a fraction of the speeds involved in the Aug. 5 chase.

For the couple in the Toyota, the debate is no longer academic. They were simply driving down the interstate on a Wednesday evening when a pursuit they had no part in ended on top of them.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available, including the identities and conditions of the injured and any response from Arkansas State Police regarding review of the trooper’s actions.