Crash ends pursuit of stolen patrol car

A prisoner escaped from a Van Buren courtroom stole a deputy's patrol car and crashed on Interstate 40 near Alma on Friday after police rammed the vehicle, said Crawford County Sheriff Ron Brown.

Necolle Brooke Speaks, 24, of Van Buren, slipped out of the courthouse while one deputy was taking a prisoner to the bathroom and another deputy was on the phone in the lobby, Brown said.

Bound in leg shackles, Speaks went out a side door in the courtroom, Brown said. She managed to get one hand out of her handcuffs and found a patrol car in the parking lot that was unlocked and had keys in the ignition, he said.

Brown said deputies saw her drive away and pursued the vehicle, along with troopers from the Arkansas State Police. He said Speaks was driving east on Interstate 40 toward Alma when a State Police trooper used his car to stop her.

Police use the maneuver, sometimes known as tactical ramming, to spin a vehicle out of control.

Brown said the maneuver caused the car Speaks was driving to slide into the median, where Brown believes it hit a tree. He said Speaks appeared unharmed after the crash.

"She ran from the vehicle and they had to catch her," Brown said. "She didn't appear to have any visible injuries."

Brown said Speaks was taken to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

Brown said he was in Little Rock on Friday and didn't have many details about the escape and the crash, but he heard the patrol car may be a total loss.

Brown said 25 prisoners had court appearances in Van Buren on Friday. Two deputies were shuttling them from the jail to the courthouse and back, and two deputies were stationed at the courthouse. The deputy who stepped into the lobby to make a phone call was checking to see if someone was being brought to the courtroom, Brown said.

The sheriff said he's investigating the escape.

"We're going to look at video," he said. "She left the courtroom. There should have been some doors locked. I've got an investigation going on. I just don't have all the details."

Regarding the car that was stolen, Brown said the deputy usually leaves keys in the ignition and locks the car with a remote but apparently had forgotten to lock it on Friday.

According to court filings, Speaks was in court Friday for a plea hearing on charges of terroristic threatening, possession of drug paraphernalia and unauthorized use of a vehicle. The first two charges are felonies. Speaks was formally charged on May 3 and pleaded not guilty to the charges the following day.

Speaks was listed as a habitual offender, which means she has four or more felony convictions.

Speaks is scheduled for trial Wednesday.

According to a Sept. 14 letter in her file regarding a mental evaluation, Speaks had a mental disease but not defect, meaning she was able to understand the charges against her and was deemed fit to proceed through the legal process.

NW News on 09/24/2016

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