Springdale police released dash cam video Thursday of a high speed chase that reached speeds up to 100 miles per hour the day before.
The video (above) shows the red Ford Focus being tailed by police through the streets of Springdale and onto Interstate 49. At one point, the suspect vehicle swerves around a car at an intersection. The suspect then gets onto the interstate while increasing speed, the video shows.
Springdale officers terminated the chase shortly afterward because of the risk of traveling too fast through a construction zone on the interstate, police said. Arkansas State Police then picked up the chase and arrested the suspect on Thompson Street in Springdale, police said.
Jason Komsonekeo, 33, was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving, fleeing from police and violating parole. He remained Thursday night in the Washington County Detention Center without bond. No arraignment date has been set, and Komsonekeo has an initial court date set for Friday morning, according to the Washington County Sheriff's Office.
Police said Komsonekeo starting running from officers around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday from a residential area near Austin Street in Springdale. The chase led officers off and on Springdale streets and I-49. The chase ended near the intersection of Porter and Thompson Avenue after nearly 45 minutes of law enforcement agencies trying to stop Komsonekeo in a red Ford Focus, according to the Springdale Police Department.
Komsonekeo has been arrested several times since 2008. The police were called twice to his former girlfriend's home on Austin Street on Wednesday because they said he was violating a restraining order. Neighbors in the area said they heard the commotion.
One neighbor said he had gotten home from work and was washing his car when he heard the police sirens.
"Around 12:30 p.m. or 1:00 p.m., I heard the police car chasing somebody," the man said.
Steve Brizzi lives next to the home of the suspect's former girlfriend on Austin Street. The woman is one of three women who has filed a protection order against Komsonekeo in recent years. She filed her protection order the day before the high-speed chase.
Brizzi said his neighbors are a wonderful family and were very friendly.
"I just feel badly for them that it had to happen to them," Brizzi said. "But our neighborhood is no different than anybody else's neighborhood, I guess. We are all subject to things like that."
Mike Moore lives two houses down from where the police chases started and said incidents like the recent chase are the reason his daughters are not allowed to answer the door.
"Because this is exactly what could happen," Moore said, "Somebody like that, you know they could have tried to run in my house or something.”
Komsonekeo has not yet had any formal charges filed again him. His arraignment date will likely be set in the next few days.