Just 12 MPH Over, Arkansas Trooper PITs Dad Taking Toddler To Children’s Hospital

High-speed pursuits tend to leave little room for nuance, at least in the official version of events. An official report from Arkansas State Police says a black Jeep was initially clocked at 72 mph in a 60 mph zone. It says the driver bypassed exits, would not pull over, and that traffic was building ahead. According to the trooper, the pursuit needed to end, so she made certain of it.

Of course, the dashcam shows that during the entire chase, the Jeep driver never makes an aggressive move. In fact, if anything, they slow down, turn on their hazard lights, and they move over to the slow lane. The trooper’s own narrative even admits that the driver reduced speed.

None of that stopped the PIT maneuver that came next. Inside the car were two toddlers, one of whom was having a medical emergency, which is why the father in the driver’s seat was speeding to begin with.

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The driver, identified as Dillon Hess, told troopers he was headed to Arkansas Children’s Hospital for a medical emergency. Prosecutors have since dropped the charges, but not before ASP blamed Hess for the situation.

“This incident underscores the importance of communication when it’s necessary to transport someone having a medical emergency in a private vehicle, which occurs with regularity across Arkansas,” Col. Mike Hagar, director of the state police, said in a news release, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

That should close the book, right? Except this isn’t an isolated incident.

A Trend That Won’t Stop

In 2020, a now-viral incident involved Arkansas State Police PIT-maneuvering a pregnant woman who had slowed down and activated her hazard lights while searching for a safe place to pull over on a rural highway at night. The maneuver flipped her SUV. She survived and later filed suit, arguing she was trying to comply safely. The case sparked national attention and intensified scrutiny of Arkansas’s aggressive PIT policy.

Then there are the mistaken-identity cases. Earlier this year, an Arkansas trooper lost his job after PIT-maneuvering the wrong vehicle on I-630, the same corridor as this latest incident. A child was inside that vehicle as well. The driver had done nothing wrong. In 2023, another trooper retired after executing a PIT on the wrong suspect vehicle in a separate case. That’s not a philosophical debate about tactics. That’s a pattern of striking the wrong car.

Leadership Defends PIT Policy

Arkansas State Police leadership, including Director Mike Hagar, has repeatedly defended PIT usage. The department argues that fleeing is inherently dangerous and that ending pursuits quickly protects the public. There are certainly scenarios where forceful intervention is warranted. A confirmed violent felon fleeing at triple-digit speeds through dense traffic, for example.

But this case wasn’t that.

By the time the TVI was performed, the Jeep had flashing hazards. It was boxed in by yielding traffic. It had slowed. There’s no indication in the report that it was ramming vehicles, weaving wildly, or threatening lives at that precise moment. And while prosecutors declined to pursue charges, another question lingers: who pays for the damaged Jeep? If the family now faces repair costs, on top of medical bills, what recourse do they have?

Arkansas law allows fleeing charges that can escalate to serious felonies. But a PIT maneuver carries consequences far beyond a citation, sometimes fatal ones. Thankfully, that wasn’t the situation… this time.

Photo Arkansas State Police