109 MPH PIT Maneuver: The Arkansas State Police Pursuit That Ended in a Fatal Crash

Fort Smith, Arkansas — April 10,

Just after sunrise on a clear April morning in western Arkansas, what began as a traffic violation turned into a pursuit that would end with a violent crash, a seriously injured state trooper, and the death of 34-year-old Justin Battenfield.

The incident was captured on police dash-camera footage, including the moment an Arkansas State Police cruiser made contact with Battenfield's pickup at approximately 109 miles per hour.

The footage would later become widely circulated online, but the complete sequence tells a much larger story—one involving a fleeing driver, multiple law-enforcement agencies, rapidly changing road conditions, and a decision that unfolded in only a matter of seconds.

The Pursuit Begins

At approximately 6:30 a.m., a U.S. Forest Service officer encountered a Dodge pickup traveling on U.S. Highway 71 in the Fort Smith area.

According to Arkansas State Police and contemporary local reporting, the officer observed the truck fail to stop at a traffic signal and continue through the intersection, including traveling along the shoulder.

The officer attempted to stop the vehicle.

Instead of pulling over, the driver continued.

What followed was no longer a routine traffic stop.

A pursuit was underway.

The chase would eventually cover approximately 20 miles, involving officers from multiple agencies before Arkansas State Police troopers took the lead.

The driver was identified as Justin Michael Battenfield, 34, of Fort Smith.

A Chase Moving Through Western Arkansas

As the pursuit continued, the situation became increasingly dangerous.

According to the trooper's report later published with the complete footage, Battenfield's pickup traveled through several traffic lights and passed vehicles using the shoulder.

At one point, the pursuit moved onto Zero Street, also designated State Highway 255, a divided roadway in Fort Smith.

There, according to the report, the pickup began crossing into lanes carrying traffic in the opposite direction.

The dash-camera footage provides a striking view of what the troopers were facing.

The pickup was moving rapidly down the roadway while other vehicles were nearby.

For officers following behind, the problem was no longer simply getting a fleeing driver to stop.

Every additional second of the pursuit created another opportunity for a collision with someone who had nothing to do with the chase.

The Arkansas State Police fatal-crash record identifies the eventual crash location as State Highway 255 near Ben Geren Park in Fort Smith, with clear weather and normal road conditions.

"Get This Car Stopped"

As the pursuit continued, the radio traffic became increasingly urgent.

The trooper's dash-camera recording captures a supervisor directing Trooper Michael Shawn Ellis to stop the fleeing pickup.

The instruction came as Battenfield was reportedly driving in a manner that officers believed presented an immediate danger to other motorists.

The order was essentially to stop the truck when an opportunity presented itself.

Seconds later, Ellis moved into position.

He was driving a Dodge Charger police cruiser.

Ahead of him was Battenfield's pickup.

Both vehicles were traveling at extreme speed.

Then Ellis made the decision to use a PIT maneuver, also known as the Precision Immobilization Technique.

According to the Arkansas State Police record, the maneuver occurred while the two vehicles were traveling east on Highway 255.

The speed recorded in the footage was approximately 109 mph.

The 109 MPH Impact

The moment of contact lasts only seconds.

The police cruiser moves toward the pickup and strikes the rear portion of the fleeing vehicle.

The pickup immediately begins rotating.

But at this speed, the maneuver does not simply send the vehicle into a controlled spin.

The situation becomes chaotic almost instantly.

Both vehicles leave the roadway.

The pickup enters the roadside area and strikes the embankment.

According to the official Arkansas State Police crash summary, the pickup overturned after contacting the roadside ditch embankment. During the rollover, it struck a utility pole.

At the same time, Ellis's police cruiser traveled over the pickup.

The patrol vehicle became airborne.

Both vehicles then crossed a driveway and struck another utility pole before finally coming to rest.

The dash-camera footage captures the extraordinary sight of the police vehicle being launched into the air.

For a moment, the cruiser appears almost weightless.

Then it comes crashing back down.

What had been a high-speed pursuit only seconds earlier had become a catastrophic wreck.

The Aftermath

Emergency crews responded to the scene.

The official Arkansas State Police record lists Justin Michael Battenfield, 34, as deceased in the crash.

Trooper Michael Shawn Ellis, 32, was injured and transported to Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith.

Contemporary reporting said Ellis suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was later released from the hospital.

Battenfield did not survive.

The entire sequence—from the initial traffic violation to the fatal crash—had taken place in the early morning hours.

And the final seconds were recorded from the perspective of the pursuing police vehicle.

What the Dash Camera Revealed

When the footage was later released, viewers were able to see much more than a single dramatic collision.

The video showed the progression of the pursuit and the circumstances immediately before the PIT maneuver.

That distinction mattered.

Short clips of the crash could make the incident appear to begin at the moment of impact.

The complete footage showed that officers had already been involved in a prolonged pursuit and that the fleeing vehicle's behavior had changed as the chase continued.

A full version of the footage released by Real World Police in 2021 included additional background and the report of Trooper Shawn Ellis. The video description states that the footage covers the April 10, 2020 pursuit in its entirety.

A Fatal Question About Police Pursuits

The crash immediately raised difficult questions about high-speed police pursuits and the use of PIT maneuvers.

A PIT maneuver is intended to force a fleeing vehicle into a controlled rotation, allowing officers to bring the pursuit to an end.

But speed dramatically changes the physics involved.

At low speeds, a vehicle may spin and stop relatively quickly.

At highway speeds, the same maneuver can produce a rollover, secondary collisions, or the involvement of roadside obstacles.

In this case, the consequences were extreme.

The pickup overturned.

The police cruiser went airborne.

Utility poles were struck.

One person died.

Another was injured.

The incident subsequently became part of broader reporting and discussion about the risks associated with police pursuit tactics. The Washington Post, for example, included the Battenfield case in its investigation of fatal PIT maneuvers across the United States.

The Human Side of the Crash

Behind the police footage was a family dealing with a death that happened in a matter of minutes.

Battenfield's mother, Carol Henson, later spoke publicly about the incident.

She questioned whether the pursuit could have ended differently and expressed her belief that officers could have backed away rather than continuing the chase. Her comments were reported by the Washington Post.

Those comments represent her perspective on the incident and should be understood separately from the official account of the pursuit.

The official record establishes what happened mechanically: a pursuit, a PIT maneuver, two vehicles leaving the roadway, a rollover, impacts with utility poles, one death, and one injured trooper.

The question of whether different decisions could have produced a different outcome is much more complicated.

The Trooper's Perspective

For Trooper Michael Shawn Ellis, the crash was also nearly catastrophic.

His patrol vehicle collided with the pickup at extraordinary speed.

The truck's rollover effectively sent the police cruiser over it, turning the patrol vehicle into an airborne projectile.

The official crash report confirms that Ellis was injured and required hospitalization.

The footage therefore documents danger on both sides of the pursuit.

Battenfield was in the fleeing vehicle.

Ellis was behind the wheel of the police cruiser.

And both men were traveling toward a moment neither could reverse once the vehicles made contact.

Why the 109 MPH Moment Became So Significant

The number 109 MPH became inseparable from the case.

It is the figure that transformed an already dangerous pursuit into one of the most widely discussed PIT incidents involving Arkansas State Police.

The Washington Post reported that the PIT occurred at 109 mph and that Battenfield died while Ellis sustained injuries.

Later reporting continued to use the incident as an example when discussing the dangers and policy questions surrounding high-speed PIT maneuvers.

The footage itself makes the number difficult to comprehend.

At 109 miles per hour, a vehicle is traveling roughly 160 feet every second.

That means there is almost no time to react once something unexpected happens.

A slight change in steering angle, the position of another vehicle, the edge of the roadway, or an obstacle in the roadside environment can radically change the outcome.

That is precisely what makes high-speed pursuits so difficult to predict.

The Final Seconds

Looking back at the dash-camera footage, the final sequence happens incredibly quickly.

The pickup continues forward.

The police cruiser closes the distance.

The PIT maneuver begins.

Metal makes contact.

The pickup rotates.

Both vehicles leave the roadway.

The truck overturns.

The police cruiser is launched over it.

Utility poles are struck.

And then everything stops.

What remains is wreckage scattered across the roadside.

For the people watching the footage years later, the scene lasts only a few seconds.

For the people involved, those seconds changed the rest of their lives.

A Pursuit Frozen on Camera

Police dash-camera footage is often described as evidence.

But in cases like this, it also becomes a record of human decision-making under extreme pressure.

The video does not simply show a spectacular crash.

It shows the buildup to that crash.

It shows a traffic stop that became a pursuit.

A pursuit that became a high-speed chase.

A chase that moved into an area with other motorists.

And finally, a decision to intervene at extraordinary speed.

The Arkansas State Police investigation recorded the basic physical facts of the collision, while later reporting examined the broader questions surrounding police pursuits and PIT tactics.

There is no way to change what happened on that Arkansas roadway on the morning of April 10, 2020.

But the footage remains.

And every time it is replayed, the same sequence appears again:

109 miles per hour.

One PIT maneuver.

Two vehicles leaving the road.

One life lost.

One trooper injured.

And a pursuit that ended in a matter of seconds, but left questions that continued long after the wreckage had been cleared from the roadway.