Did Arkansas Trooper Chase The Wrong Dodge Charger?

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Law enforcement officers have to make snap judgements all the time, which is one of the reasons the job is so tough. And while they often get things right, that’s not always the case. Dashcam footage from Arkansas State Police show a trooper chase down a speeding Dodge Charger that was going the opposite direction, but some people think he pulled over the wrong Charger.

Watch a hit-and-run suspect play victim when the cops arrive.

We see in the footage that the trooper crosses the grassy median as he sees the speeding Mopar. That gives us a fairly good look at the offending vehicle. But by the time he’s turned all the way around, the Charger is far down the highway.

Pushing his cruiser to well over 100 mph, he gives chase, lights and sirens both going. As the trooper continues the pursuit, he notes on the radio what he saw was a “Battleship Gray Charger.” As he keeps driving, at times pushing to over 120 mph, the trooper seems to lock onto a car in the distance. Thanks to the video quality, we can’t quite tell what it is he sees on the horizon.

But the pursuit lasts for almost eight minutes, there’s no doubt the trooper lost sight of the vehicle he thinks is the one he originally saw. The highway curves repeatedly, making it impossible to keep an eye on his pursuit target. He even admits that fact to dispatch.

Lo and behold, once the trooper rolls into a town he sees a gray Dodge Charger traveling the opposite direction, flips a U-turn, and proceeds to pull it over. Basically an open-and-shut case, right? After all, the trooper says it’s “the exact same color, exact same build” so that’s just a smoking run, right?

It’s interesting to note the person who was supposedly running before doesn’t just punch it and take off upon seeing the trooper. If you had been running from the cops just a few minutes before and you saw one of them with lights and sirens coming the opposite direction like before, wouldn’t you just run again? Instead, this person pulls into a parking lot like everything is normal, stopping for the trooper without any trouble.

The trooper asks where the driver, a woman, was coming from. When she tries to explain he cuts her off and tells her he doesn’t care, showing he’s clearly pissed. He goes off on a long rant to her, even though she isn’t resisting. Is that anger clouding his judgment? Or is he justified in being annoyed at the suspect not being honest?

Notice during the pursuit there are a lot of connecting roads the suspect could’ve shot down to lose the fuzz. Did the speeder stay on the highway after seeing the ASP car in the median or did the suspect take a different route in hope of throwing the trooper off?

Also, people are noting the difference in side mirror caps. Are they really the same car?

Was this a case of an ASP trooper who couldn’t admit when a suspect slipped away, doggedly pursuing until he found another car that looked the same to him? Or was this woman trying to pull a fast one on law enforcement? Watch the video and let us know what you think.

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