Police pursuit Sunday ends in Hempstead County

NASHVILLE – Late Sunday afternoon, Nashville K9 Officer Greg Parker attempted to perform a traffic stop on a 2008 Mercury for expired tags near the intersection of Reece and Ansley Streets in Nashville. The vehicle pulled into a vacant lot, then sped away at a high rate of speed.

Officer Parker activated his unit’s emergency lights and siren and notified the dispatcher he was in pursuit. Nashville Patrol Officer Dillon Roberts joined the chase which took officers across numerous city streets with the suspect vehicle traveling in the wrong lane of traffic and running multiple stop signs.

The car entered U.S. Highway 278 and headed towards Hope. Nashville Police Chief Amy Marion said the vehicle was being driven erratically, swerving within its lane and occasionally going into the opposite lane of traffic and reaching speeds near 80 miles per hour.

During the pursuit, the suspect vehicle passed two eighteen wheelers carrying oversize logging equipment and on multiple occasions, on-coming traffic was forced onto the shoulder. 3-4 miles outside of Nashville near the Todd Morris Auction grounds, the Mercury left the roadway, struck a tree and overturned, coming to rest upside down.

The driver was identified as Zakheus Kairon Box, 20, of Nashville. He was pinned in the vehicle and Yancey Volunteer Fire Department first responders had to remove doors of the car to extricate him. Box was taken by ambulance to Howard Memorial Hospital in Nashville where he was later flown by helicopter to St. Vincent Hospital in Hot Springs as a result of his injuries. A passenger in the car received minor injuries.

Chief Marion said officers on scene could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car, and during a search of the vehicle, officers allegedly located six individual bags of suspected marijuana weighing a total of 8.2 ounces, along with empty plastic bags, a Beretta 9mm semi-automatic pistol with one high-capacity magazine and one fifteen round magazine. Both were loaded.

Zakheus Kairon Box was charged with Felony Fleeing, Possession of a Schedule IV Controlled Substance, Marijuana, With Purpose to Deliver, Simultaneous Possession of Drugs and Firearms, and Possession of Firearms by Certain Persons. Box is a probationer with the state of Arkansas.

Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton said deputies from his agency assisted with traffic control during the incident.