Arkansas State Police are well known for their ability and willingness to pit a fleeing criminal in just about any situation. That makes running from such a bold organization even less brilliant when one considers that this person decided to do so in a Toyota Prius. We’re frankly shocked at just how long the chase went on.
This pursuit took place in far southwest Arkansas. It’s the kind of area where you’d expect something like a classic orange Dodge Charger to run from police on the regular. This chase doesn’t have that sort of good ol’boys ending though.
Instead, we join it from the dash cam in Corporal Shane Alkire’s patrol car. In it we see the fleeing hybrid fly by in the opposite lane with an Arkansas police SUV not far behind. Cpl Alkire flips around and eclipses triple-digit speeds for almost three straight minutes to catch up.
More: Woman Fleeing Arkansas Police Crashes Into Box Truck, Splits Getaway Car In Half
As soon as the Prius is in sight of the camera we see it swerving from the oncoming lane back onto the correct side of the road. The move is so extreme that it’s somewhat surprising that the Prius didn’t put itself in a ditch. As Alkire approaches we can see that the Toyota driver was attempting to avoid a spike strip on the road.
The evasive maneuver is enough to dramatically slow the chase down and by the time Alkire is next to the Prius both cars are traveling at about 80 mph (128 km/h). Things slowly speed back up to over 100 mph (160 km/h) though.
Over the next few minutes Cpl. Alkire shows a great deal of restraint as he avoids pitting the Prius. Each time he gets close a bystander is driving by on one side of the road or the other. Around the 8:35 mark of the video police successfully spike strip the Prius, which spells the beginning of the end.
The front passenger tire is shredded but the driver continues speeding. Without the normal amount of traction though, they can’t do much to fight back when the police car comes up from behind and pushes them off of their intended path. Despite trying to avoid traffic, the collision happens near an oncoming motorist.
Police push the Prius deep into a ditch before a female gets out with her hands up and the chase concludes. We’re just glad to see that nobody ended up injured here and that the police managed to keep the public safe too.