Suspects held after pursuit
STEVEN MROSS
The Sentinel-Record
A Malvern man and woman were arrested Wednesday after allegedly fleeing from a Garland County sheriff’s deputy, first in a vehicle and then on foot into a wooded area.
Jane Marie Wallace, 42, and Clifton Dewayne Wallace, 38, who both list a Malvern address, were each charged with fleeing on foot, a misdemeanor. Jane Wallace was also charged with a felony count of possession of drug paraphernalia and had holds on her from Benton Police and Grant County, while Clifton Wallace was also charged with two counts of second-degree criminal mischief and criminal trespass and had a parole hold on him.
Clifton Wallace remained in custody Thursday, with bonds totaling $6,000 on the charges, while Jane Wallace was apparently released to the custody of Grant County authorities. Both are set to appear April 1 in Garland County District Court.
According to arrest reports, shortly before 12:30 p.m., GCSD Deputy Shane Tatum spotted a dark blue 2004 Ford F-150 pickup parked under the overpass in the 3000 block of Spring Street and approached in his unit to check.
He asked the driver, later identified as Clifton Wallace, what he was doing under there, and he promptly backed off the roadway, turned around under the expressway and began fleeing toward Highway 70 east.
Tatum pursued the pickup on Highway 70 as GCSD Lt. David Wolf was able to get ahead of the pursuit and deploy a spike strip, but it failed to puncture the suspect vehicle’s tires, and it continued on to the old Lonsdale cutoff.
It went through the cutoff and headed back toward Highway 70, but then turned right just prior to the highway and traveled parallel with the highway while debris was flying out of the back of the pickup.
It finally turned into a private drive and then into a wooded area off Highway 70 near Stickley Road, where the pickup wrecked into some trees. Both the driver and passenger, later identified as Jane Wallace, bailed out and fled on foot into the woods.
Clifton Wallace was apprehended after a short pursuit and taken into custody. An Arkansas Department of Correction K-9 team responded to assist and began tracking the female suspect. She was located after approximately 20 minutes and taken into custody without further incident.
According to the report, two syringes and three spoons with residue were found in her possession, resulting in the additional drug charge.
GCSD Lt. James “Corky” Martin said Thursday that the sheriff ’s department wanted to thank Arkansas Game and Fish, Arkansas State Police, Hot Spring County Sheriff’s deputies and the ADC K-9 team for their assistance in the pursuit and capture
