Mayor Frank Scott Jr. has promised a thorough review of the 2021 high-speed chase initiated by Little Rock police that ended in a fatal crash in Saline County.
Little was known about Little Rock police involvement in the deadly crash until blogger Russ Racop put together pieces from investigations of officers’ policy violations in a report earlier this week.
It was mentioned at the time of the crash that Little Rock officers were on the scene when Saline County deputies arrived, but news accounts didn’t explain. Indeed, there were many. I obtained a Saline sheriff’s incident report. A key portion:
Nine patrol units, with another on the way.
An officer named Watkins is not the officer identified by Racop as beginning the chase. That oficer left the force in January, short of termination according to the mayor’s statement. Nor is it the name of an officer suspended for five days for using an unapproved blocking maneuver during a brief stop during the chase. Brian Watkins was the officer, according to documents Racop received, who took the initial report about a car being taken. He couldn’t locate the vehicle, but another officer did and gave chase. Watkins responded after the wreck.
I’ve asked for further information from the Saline sheriff about the ensuing detective investigation, but if it remains open, those records won’t be open.
UPDATE: The office provided it’s list of responders at the scene, including 13 from Little Rock.
Saline Sheriff’s Capt. Ron Parsons told me their first unit arrived nine minutes after the accident. He said they didn’t know why Little Rock officers entered Saline County. “I can tell you we are not notified of the chase until after the accident.”