Man who fled police identified, arrested
Authorities have identified and charged a Plummerville man who reportedly led Mayflower police on a chase along Interstate 40 last week.
The Mayflower Police Department received a 911 hang-up call from a residence on Wheeler Street shortly before 10 p.m. Oct. 1 and soon located two women along with a man with long black hair inside a 1997 champagne-colored Ford F-150 pickup truck that was attempting to leave the scene, according to a probable cause affidavit.
An officer began questioning the driver, who identified himself as Stephen Dean Barnhart. According to the report, authorities later learned Barnhart was actually 25-year-old Lee Alstone Huguet.
"Mr. Huguet advised he was not aware of any issues or phone calls to 911," the responding officer wrote in his report. "I asked Mr. Huguet for his driver's license and he advised he did not have it with him but provided me with Mr. Barnhart's name and date of birth. I ran the vehicle's California license plate through dispatch and the license plate showed to belong to a Yamaha motorcycle. I ran the VIN through dispatch and the vehicle did not show to be stolen. I ran the provided name of Mr. Barnhart through dispatch and his return showed to be suspended."
After learning who he thought was Barnhart had a suspended license, the officer asked the suspect to step out of the vehicle. At this point, the suspect "rolled up the window and began to drive away," according to the affidavit.
As the suspect began to flee the scene, one of the women reportedly jumped out of the passenger side of the vehicle.
According to the report, the woman "appeared to be unharmed" and authorities quickly chased after the fleeing truck.
Records show the vehicle fled erratically through Mayflower before crashing into a median along Interstate 40.
"The vehicle headed southbound on Wheeler Street from the residence and turned east onto Gandy Lane, turned south on Hwy 365, turned left into Queen's Manor Apartments and drove through Grassy Lake Apartments" before turning onto Grassy Lake Road.
Authorities said Huguet drove "erratically all over the road" as he continued down a dead-end road and eventually drove through a fence, up a hill and eventually headed eastbound on Interstate 40 near mile marker 138.
Huguet reportedly drove along the interstate for half a mile before attempting to cross over into oncoming, westbound traffic when he lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a median wall.
After crashing the pickup truck, Huguet "immediately jumped out of the vehicle and ran across the westbound lanes of traffic and into a wooded area."
"At this time, I noticed Mr. Huguet did not have long black hair anymore but rather a shaved head now," one of the officers wrote in his report.
The woman in the vehicle reportedly suffered minor injuries in the crash and an ambulance was called to the scene. The woman identified as Samantha Baskins was taken by ambulance to Baptist Health Medical Center regarding the injuries to her head and knee.
While searching the vehicle, authorities reportedly found a wig as well as a backpack that had 56 unused syringes, two syringes loaded with "a clear substance," a class pipe with white residue, a small pink torch and two LG cell phones.
Authorities later learned Huguet was the suspect who identified himself as Barnhart. By the time he was identified, the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office had arrested him on unrelated theft charges for reportedly stealing a utility trailer from the Greenbrier and Springhill area.
Huguet was charged with felony fleeing, leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury, possession of drug paraphernalia, fleeing on foot, reckless driving, obstructing governmental operations, driving on a suspended license, having fictitious tags, having expired tags and for reportedly not having insurance.
Online records show Huguet is currently behind bars in the county jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond regarding the aforementioned charges.