Police Chief performs TVI Maneuver at 100 mph, His patrol vehicle overturns multiple times!

On February 7, 2024, at approximately I (Trp. Matthew Foreman) was notified by Benton County was in a pursuit and was traveling eastbound on US Highway 412 approaching the Benton/Washington County line. I was advised that they were in pursuit of a stolen U-Haul truck. I was able make it to the county line to turn around. the U-Haul truck and Benton County units passed me, and I was able to join the pursuit. At the time of the pursuit, I became involved the following agencies where Benton County Sherriff’s office, Colcord Police Department (Oklahoma) and Tontitown was joining the pursuit. I took primary in the pursuit as we began to enter Tontitown. I began to set up on the passenger side of the vehicle to attempt a TVI but did not complete it due to a pickup truck parked in a driveway. We continued traveling eastbound on US Highway 412. The suspect vehicle began to approach State Highway 112 where Trp. Matthew Walker attempted to block the suspect vehicle in. The suspect vehicle continued traveling and Trp. Walker was able to perform a TVI on the driver side of the U-Haul. The suspect turned south on Industrial circle. I immediately performed a TVI on the rear of the suspect van and made it turn counterclockwise into an empty gravel parking lot and it struck the driver side of my patrol vehicle.

The suspect began to reverse through the abandoned parking lot after a failed attempt to block him in. Once the suspect began to move forward, I reversed my vehicle and struck a Benton County patrol unit. The suspect continued traveling on Industrial Circle and started to travel east on US Highway 412. The pursuit continued east on US Highway 412, and Tontitown’s Police Chief was primary in the pursuit. The suspect entered Interstate 49 going southbound approaching the 71-mile marker. Tontitown perform a TVI on the suspect vehicle causing it to rotate clockwise. The rear of the suspect vehicle got caught in Tontitown’s bumper and caused him to leave the roadway to the right and overturn multiple times. The suspect vehicle continued driving backwards on Interstate 49 and Trp. Walker and I rammed the passenger front side of the vehicle, in attempts to disable the vehicle. I began to turn around and observed the suspect vehicle was still traveling and performed another ram on the driver side tire in another attempt to disable the vehicle. Trp. Matthew Walker, Tontitown, Benton County and I blocked the suspect vehicle in. The driver attempted to drive through the Tontitown patrol unit but was unable to do so. A felony take down was performed on this vehicle. The passenger was taken into custody and identified as Trenton Johnson (DOB:11/12/2002).

Once the passenger was removed from the vehicle, we began to give the driver commands to exit the vehicle which he ignored. Officer Trevor Hammons with Tontitown Police Department deployed JPX on the driver. The driver continued to not comply with verbal commands. Trp. Walker approached the driver side of the vehicle breaking the window with his baton. Once he broke the window, the driver, later identified as Cory Mercier (DOB:08/20/2002), began to exit through the back of the van. The driver was later taken into custody without further incident. During the search of the vehicle, two 9mm handguns were in the back of the van. One of the firearms was a Mossberg MC2 9mm (S/N 016184MC). The second firearm was a 9mm Palmetto Dagger (S/N SZ016079). Both firearms had loaded magazines and a live round in the chamber. There was also two Molotov Cocktails located inside the vehicle. No other evidence was located inside the vehicle. A total of two patrol vehicles became disabled in the pursuit.

A total of 8 patrol vehicles became damaged in the pursuit. It was later discovered the U-Haul van was not stolen, but it was flagged in ACIC as a Felony Wanted for Fleeing and Eluding out of West Land Police Department, Michigan. The two suspects were also wanted out of several different agencies including: West Land Police Department (Michigan), Tempe Police Department (Arizona), Oklahoma City Police Department, and Locus Grove Police Department (Oklahoma). This vehicle fled from West Land Police Department (Michigan) on January 23, 2024, On January 25, 2024, West Land Police Department special investigation division was doing a follow- up on the U-Haul truck and located it. The vehicle backed into a parking spot and was blocked in, and they attempted to take the subjects into custody. Mercier looked at them and said, "Fuck You!" Mercier put the vehicle in drive and accelerated forward almost running over a West Land officer and rammed one of their patrol vehicles. This vehicle fled from Tempe Police Department (Arizona) on February 5, 2024.This vehicle fled from Oklahoma City Police Department (Oklahoma) on February 7, 2024. Oklahoma Highway Patrol chased this vehicle into Arkansas. Benton county took possession of the driver and passenger and everything that was found in the U-Haul van.