Photos (from left) Matthew Braden and Lakota Tripp
One of two Kansas men who made their way to Arkansas in stolen vehicles and ended up crashing one of the them in the parking lot of the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie at Midway pled guilty to charges against him during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Twenty-three-year-old Lakota Tripp was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction, with three suspended and two to serve.
At the time of the crash in mid-September, Tripp and 20-year-old Matthew Braden, who both list addresses in Wichita, Kansas, were being chased by a Baxter County deputy sheriff responding to a stolen wallet call.
The call reporting the stolen wallet came from a woman at a park in the Bull Shoals area. The victim said two males driving a SUV got into her vehicle and took her wallet. The contents included credit cards, drivers license and a school identification card.
The sheriff’s deputy responding to the theft call spotted the suspect vehicle on State Highway 178. He turned around and attempted a traffic stop, but the car, being driven by Braden, rapidly accelerated. According to the probable cause affidavit, the deputy reported reaching speeds of 90-100 miles-per-hour during the pursuit.
When Braden veered into the gravel parking lot of the FOE Aerie, he lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, coming to rest on its wheels.
According to a press release from Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, even after the accident, Braden attempted to get away. The engine of the vehicle the two men were in was reportedly revving and the tires spinning.
Both men were taken into custody.
Braden told investigators the pair had stolen a truck in Wichita belonging to his uncle and drove it to Oklahoma where they ran out of gas. They then took an SUV at a Ponca, Oklahoma, dealership for a test drive that didn’t end until the vehicle crashed in the Eagles’ parking lot in Midway.
Braden is alleged to have told investigators he was coming to Arkansas because someone in the state had “ruined his life,” and he intended to physically attack the person. He remains in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $25,000, according to the jail log.
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