Two men from Texas were arrested early Tuesday after an officer noticed them breaking into a bait shop and authorities chased them in a vehicle along Interstate 30, the Benton Police Department said in a news release.
The investigation started around 4:45 a.m. when a patrol officer spotted a vehicle pull into the parking lot of Mac's Minnows and More at 15920 I-30, authorities said.
The officer watched the two men enter the store and then heard an alarm, the release said, noting the two men returned to a vehicle and fled toward I-30.
Police gave chase. At one point, the burglars' car veered into the median near the 11 exit and a passenger got out and ran, the release said.
"The vehicle regained control and continued driving along I-30, until the driver again pulled into the median and jumped from the moving car, leaving it to cross the service road and collide with a tree down an embankment," spokesman Matt Burks wrote in the release.
One suspect was arrested at a nearby weigh station, and a second was taken into custody a few miles away on U.S. 67 near I-30.
The suspects were identified as 23-year-old Kendrick Germaine Lewis of Forest Hill, Texas, and 23-year-old Jordan Demon O’Neal of Fort Worth. They each face charges that include commercial burglary and fleeing.
Both men remained in the Saline County jail Wednesday with bail not yet set.
