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Even among Arkansas State Police, Officer Garrett Byrd is a legend. The man has demonstrated some impressive high-speed pursuit skills on multiple occasions in the force. We’ve seen him catch a lot of fleeing suspects, and he does it almost perfectly every time. But this time he didn’t do a PIT or even handcuff the fleeing suspect.
Corvette bakes donuts and grills engine at the same time.
You’ll see in the dash cam footage that Officer Byrd spotted a car running a red light and then entering the highway heading east toward Memphis. As he had done many times, Officer Byrd turned on his headlights and safely made his way through traffic to catch up to the speeding car.
As he did so, he saw the emergency flashers on the car turn on. We’ve seen fleeing criminals turn on these lights during a chase before, but this feels different. After all, the car has slowed down rather than continuing down the highway to stay ahead.
When Officer Byrd had completely closed the gap, the driver refused to pull over but slowed down some, and he began his killing spree. But the driver probably realized she was coming into a pit and slowed down, so he backed away.
This shows just how keen of senses Soldier Byrd has. While he doesn’t hesitate to take on suspects, he knows it’s not the only way to solve the problem.
After the driver got out of the car at gunpoint, the frightened woman emerged cautiously and ran to the rear bumper. As Officer Byrd removed the handcuffs, he asked her why she didn’t pull over.
That’s when he noticed the woman was clearly suffering from a severe panic attack. Instead of handcuffing her, he sat her on the guardrail and spoke to her to calm her down. As EMS arrived to assist, the woman eventually told police she was rushing to the hospital, where her brother had been taken after being shot in the head.
So you never know, someone who seems to have bad intentions may be in a bad situation and need understanding rather than rebuke. Trooper Byrd is good at sensing when needed and demonstrates the ASP’s discipline.
Image via Police Chase/YouTube
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