The cases of two people arrested following an unusual type of pursuit where speeds reached a low of about 18 miles-per-hour at one point were on the docket in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday (October 20).
Thirty-one-year-old Kelle Elizabeth Passmore was identified as the driver of the vehicle involved in the “chase.” Her passenger was 57-year-old Mark Allen Pinkston.
On Monday, Pinkston pled guilty to possessing drugs and paraphernalia to ingest drugs and was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections with a judicial transfer to one of the Community Correction Centers in the state for addiction treatment.
Passmore’s case was continued until November 3.
On June 8, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office was advised that a Marion County deputy was involved in a “slow speed pursuit” on U.S. Highway 62 West heading toward Baxter County.
The vehicle was described as a red Hyundai Accent.
The Baxter County deputy joined the pursuit and activated his emergency lights. He reported that a female, later identified as Passmore, and a male, identified as Pinkston, were the only occupants in the vehicle.
The female driver was said to have begun waiving her arm out the window and making hand gestures at the deputy.
At that point, the vehicle was reported to have been traveling as slow as 18-miles-an-hour.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the Hyundai then sped up reaching speeds of 72 miles-per-hour.
At one point, the driver of the fleeing vehicle slammed on the brakes and turned into a dead-end side road.
The Hyundai came to a stop at a gate leading to a property on the road.
The Baxter County sheriff’s deputy said as the vehicle was stopping, he saw the male passenger throw a blue colored object out of the window.
Passmore and Pinkston were both cuffed. When the object that had been tossed from the car was found, it was reported to be a blue Lilo and Stitch house shoe holding several clear plastic bags and two unused syringes.
Two more syringes were found on the passenger side floorboard under trash that was piled on the floorboard. One of the syringes contained a clear substance and the other an orange-colored substance.
Pinkston was reported to have admitted that the substance in the two syringes was “ICE,” a common term used to describe crystal methamphetamine.
Charges against Passmore include fleeing, careless and prohibited driving, speeding and not using a turn signal. Pinkston was initially charged with possession of a controlled substance and items of paraphernalia used to ingest drugs.
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