By Ray King
A vehicle chase by vice and narcotics detectives in the early morning hours Sunday resulted in the arrest of a man who fled in his vehicle, and then on foot before being taken into custody.
When he was asked why he ran, Kelly Smith, 37, told police he ran “because he was scared.”
During a court hearing Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Jay Girard said that about 1 a.m., the detectives were on West 28th Avenue when they saw a tan Lincoln Town Car leave a gas station. The vehicle had a broken taillight and no license tag and the detectives activated the blue lights to conduct a traffic stop.
The driver, later identified as Smith refused to stop and turned north on Fir to 26th Avenue, then East to Hazel and continued east at speeds of 30 to 40 miles per hour to Mulberry where the speed increased to 60 miles per hour before Smith got out of the vehicle and ran into a wooded area.
He was found lying on the ground and taken into custody and Girard said the speed of Smith’s vehicle was nearly double the speed limit in that area and Smith ran numerous stop signs during the chase.
Court records showed that Smith was previously convicted of forgery and theft of property in 2013 and theft by receiving and being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2016 and Girard said Smith may currently be on parole.
Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney set a $15,000 bond for Smith after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge him with felony fleeing. The Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Smith.
