An Arkansas woman has filed a lawsuit against a state trooper after he flipped over her SUV because she didn’t pull over quickly enough during a traffic stop.
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The July 2020 incident took place last year while Nicole Harper was driving on I-67/167 near Jacksonville when Senior Cpl. Rodney Dunn warned her about her speeding and Harper turned on her hazards then slowing down into the right lane. Although Dunn claims Harper fled from him, dashcam footage shows the state trooper using a PIT maneuver which caused Harper’s vehicle to crash into a median and flip over. Harper was pregnant with her daughter at the time and miraculously, they both survived.
The footage shows Dunn asking Harper why didn’t she slow down and she said in response, “Because I didn’t feel it was safe thought it would be safe to wait until the exit.” He tells her that she is supposed to “pull over when law enforcement stops you.”
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Harper’s lawsuit is suing Arkansas State Police for negligence and excessive force and she hopes the tactic will end after her lawsuit.
“What if I had kids in the car? He wouldn’t have known. Did that matter? What was going through his head? What made him think this was okay?”
A statement was released by the Arkansas Police Department says the maneuver is used when a civilian does not follow protocol to safely pull off the roadway when officers activate the emergency sirens.
“Should a driver make the decision to ignore the law and flee from police, state troopers are trained to consider their options. Based on the totality of circumstances a state trooper could deploy spike strips to deflate the tires of the vehicle being pursued, execute a boxing technique to contain the pursuit slowing the driver to a stop, execute a PIT maneuver or terminate the pursuit. Most Arkansas State Police pursuits end without a PIT maneuver being utilized.”
SOURCE: FOX 16