Prosecutor: No file on Arkansas police chief's speeding; video/audio show he drove 100+ mph

Need Brinkley ticket or report, he says

This screenshot from dash-cam video shows a traffic stop involving the Brinkley chief of police.
This screenshot from dash-cam video shows a traffic stop involving the Brinkley chief of police.

A Monroe County prosecutor said he can't investigate the Oct. 21 speeding stop of Brinkley Police Chief Ed Randle until he receives a report from a law enforcement officer, and so far he hasn't.

Randle wasn't issued a ticket, although he was driving at more than 100 mph, according to Arkansas State Police dash-camera video and audio.

In the audio, the police chief can be heard saying his Ford F-150 pickup won't go over 95.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney J. Baxter Sharp III said a letter he received from Brinkley Mayor Billy Hankins requesting an investigation wasn't sufficient to trigger one.

Sharp said he sent Hankins a letter last week saying he had reviewed the case but couldn't proceed with a full investigation at this point.

"Basically, it's the officer's discretion whether or not to write the ticket," Sharp said.

On Oct. 21, Randle was stopped by a Brinkley police officer and a state police trooper in Clarendon, about 16 miles south of Brinkley.

"The Brinkley officer was out of his jurisdiction," Sharp said. "He could not write a citation because it would be invalid. We would need an affidavit."

The Brinkley police officer works for Randle. During a brief telephone interview on Nov. 28, Randle refused to identify the Brinkley officer who participated in his traffic stop.

Sharp said the state police trooper who stopped Randle could write him a ticket, or Randle could "self report" any speeding.

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Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the Arkansas State Police, said Trooper Charles Williams stopped Randle's pickup after receiving a call to assist a Brinkley officer. But Williams wouldn't be the one to issue a citation because he didn't have evidence of Randle speeding, Sadler said.

"It was the Brinkley officer who had the radar lock on the truck, not the state trooper," Sadler said in an email, noting that the Brinkley officer arrived about five seconds after the trooper stopped Randle's pickup.

"Any enforcement action that would have occurred would have had to be made by the officer who recorded the violation, specifically the Brinkley officer," Sadler said.

Voice mail messages left for Randle and Hankins on Monday weren't returned that afternoon.

Sharp said he had discussed the case with Fletcher Long Jr., the chief prosecutor for the 1st Judicial Circuit, which includes Monroe County and five other counties in east Arkansas.

"Whatever [Randle] did, it sounds to me like it's a misdemeanor speeding violation, possibly reckless driving," Long told a reporter on Nov. 28. "I'm not going to ask the state police for an investigation when three police officers were standing there. If somebody were to put an affidavit on my desk and said 'I was there and I swear that I saw him driving over 90 mph,' I need to act on that. I don't know who the somebody would be. ... If somebody does something to trigger me to make a decision, I'll make one."

Long said Hankins didn't witness a crime being committed.

"As I understand it, what he filed with Baxter's office is basically what was in the newspaper or what he heard," Long said. "Well, what he heard is not evidence of a crime. ... Somebody needs to bring some facts to my attention, and it needs to be other than what I read in the newspaper."

On Nov. 1, the Arkansas State Police released dash-camera video and audio to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The traffic stop apparently occurred on Arkansas 302 near Baptist Grove Church in north Clarendon.

In the video, Williams makes a U-turn when he meets a red pickup and pulls the vehicle over. Signs indicate the speed limit along that stretch of the highway is 45 mph.

Williams can be heard laughing as he approaches Randle's pickup on foot.

"Where are you going so fast?" Williams asks.

"To call a game in Clarendon," Randle replies.

Williams points at a vehicle that pulled up behind his.

"Look, this guy right here has been following you for miles going 100 miles an hour," Williams tells Randle. "He called the state police."

As an unidentified Brinkley police officer approaches Randle's vehicle, the laughing police chief says to him, "I know you didn't call the d*** state police!"

"No! I didn't have your plates so I didn't go over [the radio with the tag number]," the Brinkley officer says to the chief. "I was like, 'This guy's rolling!' I was, 'He's doing 112 right now!'"

"My truck won't go 112," Randle tells the officer.

"I had you locked in at 107," the officer responds, apparently referring to radar.

"It won't do 107," the chief says. "It'll go 95."

"I had you locked," says the Brinkley officer. "Seriously, I got you locked in at 107."

One of the two men talking to Randle says, "I was running 90 and you were pulling away."

"I'll have to have my speedometer checked," the chief says. "It won't go but 95."

The officer and the trooper walk away from Randle with all three men laughing. One says, "See you later."

The entire traffic stop took about one minute.

Metro on 12/06/2016

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