A Memphis, Tennessee man is facing nine charges after an Arkansas State Police trooper used a tactical vehicle intervention to spin his SUV into a guardrail on Interstate 40, ending a pre-dawn chase that reportedly topped 100 mph through Crittenden County early on Oct. 9. Brandon M. Bourgeois allegedly grabbed the trooper's hands while being handcuffed, kicked out patrol vehicle windows, and threatened to stab an officer before he was taken to jail.
According to NEA Report, Arkansas State Police Trooper First Class Dairren Evans spotted a dark-colored SUV weaving through traffic near the 277-mile marker on I-40 shortly after midnight, driving without its headlights on. Evans could not get a radar reading because of traffic but paced the vehicle at more than 100 mph, per the incident report cited by the outlet, before activating his emergency equipment near the 276-mile marker.
The driver did not stop. Instead, the SUV continued west, passing vehicles on the right shoulder and weaving through lanes, according to the same incident report. As Evans attempted several tactical vehicle interventions, the driver swerved and braked to avoid them, until Evans ultimately spun the Ford Escape toward the left guardrail, where it struck the barrier and came to a stop.
Arrest Turns Combative After the Crash
Bourgeois exited the SUV and lay on the roadway, per the incident report, and was taken into custody after a second trooper arrived on scene. The report alleges that while being handcuffed, Bourgeois grabbed Evans' hands, later kicked out windows of the patrol vehicle, and threatened to stab an officer. He reportedly told troopers he had been using methamphetamine for several days, though the incident report includes no toxicology result.
Bourgeois later complained of pain and requested medical attention, according to Evans, and was transported by ambulance from the Crittenden County jail to Baptist Crittenden Hospital for evaluation. He declined to provide a urine sample, the incident report states, and was booked into the Crittenden County Detention Center once he was cleared by hospital staff. The detention center is attached to the sheriff's department facility at 350 Afco Road in West Memphis, according to the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department.
Baptist Memorial Hospital-Crittenden, the facility where Bourgeois was evaluated, is an 11-bed acute-care hospital that opened in November 2018 to restore emergency medical services to the county four years after its predecessor closed, per Baptist Memorial Health Care. The hospital was built following a voter-approved county sales tax.
Nine Charges, Including a Felony
The incident report lists nine charges against Bourgeois: felony fleeing, first-offense drug-related driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to a chemical test, reckless driving, speeding more than 15 mph over the limit, driving without lights at night, driving without liability insurance, obstructing governmental operations, and second-degree terroristic threatening. As with all suspects, Bourgeois is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated § 5-54-125, fleeing from law enforcement in a vehicle becomes a Class C felony when it is operated in a manner manifesting extreme indifference to human life that creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to others, carrying three to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Justia Law. The second-degree terroristic threatening charge is a Class A misdemeanor under § 5-13-301(b), covering threats of physical injury or property damage made with the purpose of terrorizing another person, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine, per FindLaw.
Bourgeois' refusal to submit to chemical testing also triggers consequences outside the criminal courtroom. Under Arkansas's implied consent statutes, any motorist on state roads is deemed to have already consented to chemical testing, and refusing one results in an automatic 180-day driver's license suspension for a first offense regardless of whether a DWI conviction follows, according to NORML.
A Familiar Tactic on a Dangerous Corridor
The tactical vehicle intervention, in which a pursuing patrol car strikes the rear side of a fleeing vehicle to force a controlled spin and stop, is a tool Arkansas State Police uses often. In 2023, troopers executed TVIs or PIT maneuvers to end 251 of 620 pursuits statewide, about 41 percent of all chases that year, as Hoodline previously reported. State police Director Mike Hagar reported 553 pursuits statewide in 2024, a drop from the year before, resulting in three suspect deaths, three civilian deaths, and injuries to 83 suspects, 14 troopers, and nine civilians.
A November 2021 legal settlement involved an injured motorist.
