De Queen officer recovering, two county manhunt ends with arrest
By Dale Gathright, Jr., 07/8/23 2:24 PM
(Suspect Kenneth Lee Smith, middle in jeans, following his apprehension. Arkansas Department of Corrections photo)
DE QUEEN – At approximately 3:55 am this morning (7/8), officers with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to Sweet Home Lane in De Queen to domestic disturbance in which a shooting was reported to have occurred. Upon arrival, the responding officer was met with gunfire. His patrol unit was hit with multiple rounds. As additional officers arrived on scene, the suspect, Kenneth Lee Smith, 37 years old with a De Queen address, fled the scene on a motorcycle.
Officers with the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department and De Queen City Police Department pursued Smith. During the pursuit, Smith allegedly fired multiple rounds at law enforcement while he was traveling south on Highway 41. The pursuit ended in Little River County when officers disabled Smith’s motorcycle. The Sevier County Sheriff’s Office said Smith reached speeds of over ninety miles per hour and was traveling south on Highway 41 in the northbound lane, “endangering the lives of not only law enforcement who were in pursuit but also other motorists. “
During the pursuit, Smith allegedly fired shots that struck a Sevier County Deputy Sheriff’s patrol unit as well as a De Queen Police Department patrol unit. Lieutenant Chad Bradshaw with the De Queen Police Department was shot in the right shoulder. Lieutenant Bradshaw was transported to the Sevier County Medical Center for treatment and has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
Officers from the Arkansas State Police, Sevier County Sheriff’s Department, De Queen Police Department, 9th West Judicial District Drug Task Force, Little River County Sheriff’s Department, Arkansas Highway Police, and the Arkansas Department of Corrections, apprehended Kenneth Lee Smith following a manhunt that lasted several hours.
Sevier County Sheriff Robert Gentry and De Queen Police Chief Scott Simmons said in said in a statement, “(We) want to sincerely thank the Arkansas State Police for sending their helicopter equipped with f.l.i.r. (forward-looking infrared cameras), and the Arkansas Department of Correction Canine Tracking Team for bringing their dogs and horses to help locate and apprehend Smith.”
The Correctional Officers and their dogs started on the suspect’s track that was 4 hours old, and it snaked through a tangle of woods and clearcuts near the Sevier/Little River county line. The agency said, “The Sevier Co. Sheriff’s Dept. had done a good job of setting and holding a perimeter until the dog team arrived from the Ouachita River Unit.
For 3.5 miles, the dogs and correctional officers tracked him through trees and underbrush. And when they cornered him, he allegedly wouldn’t drop the knife he was waving. But pepper spray and a deputy’s taser dropped him before he could hurt anyone else.” Unquote.
This incident is being investigated by the Arkansas State Police and remains on-going.
