Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – Police arrested a man after they said he led officers on a high-speed chase through Jonesboro with his headlights off, crashed his vehicle, and was ultimately identified through an officer’s visual identification, a birth certificate found in the car, and matching social media photos.

District Judge David Boling found probable cause Aug. 28 to charge 18-year-old Cameron Vincent Otey, of Marvell, AR, with the following offenses:

  • Fleeing (Class C felony)
  • Second-degree criminal mischief/recklessly destroys (Class A misdemeanor)
  • Leaving the scene of an accident with property damage only – damage less than $1,000 (Class B misdemeanor)
  • Reckless driving (Unclassified misdemeanor)

According to the probable cause affidavit, at 11:47 p.m. Aug. 22, Jonesboro police officers were on East Highland Drive when they saw a Dodge Charger traveling westbound at a high rate of speed directly behind their patrol unit.

The driver passed the unit and began weaving erratically in and out of traffic, passing other vehicles while maintaining the high speed. Officers activated their emergency lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop.

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As the emergency lights activated, the driver turned off the headlights and taillights and sped away from the unit, going over 100 miles per hour in a 60 mile-per-hour zone. The officer lost visual contact with the fleeing vehicle near East Highland Drive and Nestle Road, with the vehicle’s description and direction of travel broadcasted to surrounding units.

A second officer found the vehicle parked with its lights still off, but brake lights engaged on a dirt driveway east of Easley Road.

As the officer activated their emergency lights and exited the patrol unit, the driver intentionally accelerated, causing the tires to spin and sliding the vehicle into a drift facing the officer and their unit. The driver then accelerated past the unit toward East Highland Drive. During this close-proximity bypass, the officer observed the driver and identified him as a Black male wearing a white shirt, a white beanie-style hat, and short-length dreadlocks.

Police initiated a chase through the eastern and northern sectors of Jonesboro to include the following streets:

  • East Highland Drive
  • Caraway Road
  • Marion Berry Parkway
  • East Johnson Avenue
  • University Loop
  • Aggie Road
  • Red Wolf Boulevard

Throughout the chase, the driver continued to operate the vehicle in a reckless manner, with police stating he showed “a wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property by committing numerous felony and misdemeanor traffic offenses.” This included driving over the speed limit, failing to obey stop signs and red lights, driving without lights on at night, and failing to yield to emergency vehicles.

The chase ended when the driver lost control of the vehicle while crossing the railroad tracks south on Fisher Street, striking the stop sign at the Cate Avenue intersection and disabling the vehicle. The driver immediately ran from the scene on foot before officers could execute an arrest.

During an inventory search of the abandoned vehicle prior to towing, officers found a certified birth certificate belonging to Otey.

A subsequent database and open-source intelligence search located a social media photo of Otey posted on the night of the incident. In the photograph, Otey is depicted wearing a white shirt and a white beanie with short-to-medium dreadlocks, matching the exact physical and clothing description provided by the officer who observed him fleeing. Furthermore, the specific white beanie seen in Otey’s photo was found inside the vehicle during the inventory search.

A bench warrant was requested and signed by Boling on Aug. 25 for Otey’s arrest. Otey was arrested the following day and taken to the Craighead County Detention Center. He was released the same day as his probable cause hearing on a $25,000 cash/surety bond.

Otey’s next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 30.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to provide a more comprehensive timeline of the official probable cause affidavit. The initial version condensed the police identification process. We have expanded the narrative to clarify that the suspect was positively identified through a combination of an officer’s visual description, a recovered birth certificate, and corroborating social media photographs

The suspect’s name has also been withheld in the narrative until the exact point of identification to better reflect the timeline of the investigation.

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