Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Chase begins in city, ends with wreck

A Prescott Police car was damaged, two men were sent to the hospital and then arrested after a high-speed chase ended in a crash on Nevada County road 227.

According to information from the Prescott Police Department, Melvin Tidwell, 57, 1472 Highway 76 SH, Rosston, was taken to the Hempstead Memorial Hospital then taken into police custody by the Hempstead County Sheriffs Office.

Tidwell was the passenger in a white Ford Continental driven by Benjamin Edward Mitchell, 42, 604 Demsey St., Waldo. Prescott K-9 Officer John Pettit was on patrol on Highway 67 in Prescott when he clocked Mitchells car at 100 miles per hour, according to his report.

Pettit indicates that he attempted to stop the pair, but they apparently ignored the lights and continued south on Highway 67 until they reached Nevada County 227.

Pettit indicated that he lost sight of Mitchells vehicle due to the dust on the road. Pettit stated that Mitchells vehicle wrecked in a curve of the road when he next saw it.

I applied my brake but my patrol unit slid in the gravel ... Pettit wrote in the report.

The police car Pettit was driving struck Mitchells vehicle, causing some damage to the police unit, according to Prescott Police Chief Brian Russell. Russell said both Tidwell and Mitchell were fortunate that their injuries werent more severe. Both men were taken to the hospital by ambulance and Russell indicated that they were both released a short time later.

Mitchell was picked up at the hospital by Nevada County Sheriffs Deputy Kevin Colvey and was in the Nevada County Jail at presstime. Tidwell was taken into custody by a Hempstead County Sheriffs Deputy, according to Pettits report.

The men had apparently taken copper wire from the Cale area shortly before the incident occurred. According to Nevada County Sheriff Bobby Carlton, officers had received a report of the theft in progress shortly before the chase in Prescott. Carlton said the county has turned the information over to the Arkansas State Police. There have been many reports over the past few months regarding the theft of copper wire from Nevada, Hempstead and surrounding counties.