Trooper uses PIT maneuver as dad speeds child to hospital, dashcam video shows
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Arkansas State Police trooper used PIT maneuver on a father speeding his sick child to the emergency room.
The traffic stop happened on February 20, police said. The driver was going about 75 miles per hour in a 60-mph zone on Interstate 630 just after 8:30 a.m. near Little Rock.
Dashcam video shows the state trooper turn on her lights and sirens. The SUV flips on its hazard lights but keeps driving.
The driver slows down to around 50 miles an hour but doesn't pull over.
That's when the trooper uses a Precision Immobilization Technique maneuver, also known as PIT, hitting the back corner of the SUV to spin it to a stop.
"Show me your hands! Hands up," Trooper Amber Cass says to the driver.
The dad responds: "he has an EpiPen! He needs medical attention!"
"You've got to stop! You can't keep driving," Trooper Cass said.
Driver: "My son needs to go to the hospital...My wife on the phone with 911!"
The driver tells the trooper his son was in the back seat having an allergic reaction.
The father is then handcuffed, placed in the patrol car, and scolded by the trooper.
"Could have gotten you there a lot quicker and then had to do all of this. All you had to do was pull over. We're close to the hospital, too. I could've pulled over and helped you get up quicker. Now, you've got a felony charge," Trooper Cass told the father.
The trooper called for the ambulance that took the child to a hospital.
She later drove the father to the hospital and allowed him to go inside.
Arkansas State Police defended the trooper's actions, insisting she did not know there was a medical emergency happening inside the SUV.
Despite the trooper's threat, the Pulaski County prosecutor dropped the felony fleeing charge the driver was facing.
State Police Director Colonel Mike Hagar says that was the right call.
No one was hurt in the incident.
Police say drivers rushing to the hospital should pull over and explain the situation to an officer.
