Here’s an interesting video of an Arkansas state cop attempting to catch a motorcyclist for “speeding.” It’s interesting for several reasons. The most obvious being that if the premise is that driving faster than the speed limit is dangerous, period (there’s no excuse that will fly with a a judge or a ticket-writing cop, for that matter) then why does the cop do it even faster than the guy he’s trying to catch?
Well, the argument is that it is necessary for cops to speed in order to catch speeders because otherwise, they’d just keep on speeding.
This brings up the second interesting thing we see in this video. After the motorcycle disappears – after it is clear the cop is chasing a ghost – he continue to speed at very high speed (in excess of 120 MPH). He can be seen closing on and passing cars doing the speed limit at twice the speed they’re driving, giving them little to no time to get out of his way. He passes on the shoulder at well over 100 MPH. He does all this in heavy traffic and he does it for about five minutes straight – a long time when you’re doing 100-plus MPH – even though it’s clear the ghost he’s chasing is long gone.
If anyone else – that is, anyone not of the privileged caste of government workers – had done what this one can be seen doing, they’d be subjected to a felony stop, get on the ground now! arrest at gunpoint and manacled, carted off to jail and charged with at the very least reckless driving.
There is no court in the land that would buy an excuse we might proffer to justify driving 100-plus MPH on the shoulder and close to 130 MPH in heavy traffic. Probably not even if we had a bleeding out accident victim in the car that we were desperately trying to get to the hospital in time. But when it comes to speeding – when we do it – pull out all the stops to catch the offender. Even if it results in innocent people being killed, as happened recently in Priceville, Alabama.
A cop named Garry Chapman was driving faster than the speed limit – much faster, apparently – in hot pursuit of someone else when the car he was chasing crashed into another vehicle that happened to be in the way. This ended the life of 17-year-old Tristan Hollis; three other victims were badly injured. Chapman had been driving in excess of 100 MPH, according to news accounts. Interestingly, Chapman was fired because the local cop shop questioned his decision to continue the hot pursuit rather than break it off, so as to slow things down. He was of course reinstated, despite – wait for it – a “history of speeding.”
Behold the dissonance.
It is a thread that runs through almost everything associated with government, as in rules for thee are not quite the same as rules for you and me. Only government is legally empowered to steal, as a for-instance. Of course, the government does not call the stealing it does stealing. Or strong-armed robbery. That would be much too honest. Instead, it calls the stealing it does taxation – and doubles down on the effrontery of the thing by claiming you owe what it steals.
How about the wearing of seatbelts – and the requirement (for us) to not play with our phones while we’re driving? A cop can pull us over – the euphemism for forcing us to stop via red-and-blue-flashing light threats of murderous violence if we don’t pull over – if we are seen by him to not be “buckled up” or playing with our phones while driving. But if we see him doing exactly the same, there is nothing (legally) we can do about it. If we tried to pull him over, you can imagine what would happen. No imagining is necessary. There would be an extreme Hut! Hut! Hutting! on the Israeli-trained model of showing-who’s-boss.
Cops are even free to ignore other cops who try to enforce laws prohibiting speeding. You may have seen one of the many videos of this happening. Sometimes, there is a subsequent arrest and repercussions; but the point is that only a cop can ignore another cop’s orders and get back in his car and drive away – without being shot at by the other cop.
. . .
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Oh, and GOOD on the biker for getting away! When I had my ZRX1100, I did that a time or two… 🙂
Years ago, in CT, was a guy who drove his Ferrari at 180+ on I-95, IIRC. He videoed his high speed exhibition, and he posted it online. Guess what the gov’t did? They tracked him down, arrested him, and impounded his car! Just goes to show you that, when it comes to the cops, it’s rules for thee, but not for me.
You seemed a little taller on the radio
I am glad the dude on the bike got away….
On an online deer hunting forum I frequently visit, there are numerous heroes of officialdom that are some real golden examples of dickheads. It brings me such simple joy to call them on their bullshit!
Seeing the picture of a cop was not how I wanted to start my morning. It took 47 years, but yesterday I had my first bad run in with a cop where I absolutely lost my shit. As I age my temper has mellowed over the years. I don’t portray myself to be an angel of patience, but I can keep it in check unless one starts screaming and cursing at me, which this idiot of law enforcement did.
Hubby had an emergency and needed a part that we had our warehouse. Being the good dutiful wife that I am I told him I would bring it to him. I asked the kids if they wanted to tag along and I would buy them lunch. They agreed. We get twenty minutes down the road and there is a VDOT sign saying center lane is closed. No problem I get into the right lane. In front of me is a big street painting truck. He wasn’t painting the road just heading the same direction as me. The truck is moving at 5 mph as we are going through the light. I can’t see around the truck, but I see the light above me is green so I continue into the intersection. The light turns yellow as I am in the middle of the intersection. All of a sudden a cop (I am assuming it is a town cop) literally steps in front of my 4500 pound vehicle. I slam on the brakes. The cop starts screaming at me at the top of his lungs, cussing, waving his arms “What the fuck are you doing?”
I lost it. I immediately start screaming back. One, I have never had some asshole feel the need to walk in front of a moving vehicle. I point to the light and yell “It was green and I can’t see around the damn truck.” He screams back, “Back the fuck up” pointing to me and waving his hand. Of course, I am in the middle of the intersection and I can’t go around him. I back up and we are both still shouting at the top of our lungs. He waves the other traffic through to my right screaming and cussing at them to move faster. The kids and I are watching this fully grown man having a temper tantrum in the middle of a town intersection. My light eventually turns green and I don’t go. The cop starts yelling again. I yell back “Am I allowed to go on green? I couldn’t with the last light.” I finally get through the intersection and my poor children had to listen to a 10 minute tirade that made their ears burn.
I am not feeling too hospitable to law enforcement today.
Very sorry to hear about this, RG –
But I’m glad you “got away” without receiving a piece of payin’ paper.
Hi Eric,
I figured that if I had actually done something wrong he would have, but it was going to be hard to write a citation for “running a green light”.
My editing needs so much work…”lost my shit”. Can I pay for an edit button? 😳
You’ve got one, RG – me!
Just fixed it for you.
Thank you! You are the best!
You bet, RG – though I’d say I try my best and sometimes do ok!
Naah, do not edit your writing, Raider Girl. You were keeping it real, and that is fine in my book. “Gosh darn” just does not cut it in this instance. Sometimes these pricks (called LEO’s) deserve every cuss word they hear, and if they have never heard one before, they need to get out of the donut shop.
‘My poor children had to listen to a 10-minute tirade.’ — Raider Girl
It’s okay. It may be a valuable life lesson for them, both in what to do, and what not to do.
As a six-year-old, I watched my mom become frustrated by construction barriers on an I-10 frontage road, and decide to bail out by driving the wrong way up an exit ramp. A cop nailed her. I witnessed their interaction.
Mom played the naive, small-town girl role to perfection, exaggerating her backwoods accent and implying that she’d never been on a limited-access highway before. By the end of their encounter, the cop was practically apologizing to her. 🙂
Hi Jim,
Oh, they will remember it alright. Even my daughter remarked that 20 years from now we will still be talking about this. When we were reciting the story to my husband later both of the kiddos stated, “He just walked in front of the truck, Dad. Who does that?”
My guess is he probably just found out the Missus was banging the neighbor or something. My mother told me to report him, but I couldn’t tell if he was a state trooper, county cop, Sheriff’s Office, or town cop. My guess was town cop, but I didn’t see any police cars around so who am I going to call?
I am a middle aged woman. I didn’t have any real feelings about cops one way or the other. Now, I see why people don’t trust them and he made sure it happened in front of two young adults who are now just as apprehensive.
My wife’s mom was sweet as pie, except when she got cut off in the grocery store parking lot, wife was about 7 or 8. Mom rolled down the window, screamed at the offender “you son of a bitch!” at the top of her lungs. He rolled down his window, it was the preacher from her church – oops! He and her both laughed it off and he apologized for shorting her in the parking lot.
Sadly RG, those “HEROES” don’t know enough to just step back like a normal person, say sorry and wish you a good day. You handled it as well as can be expected. As you had witnesses in the car it probably prevented a violent response from him. Hopefully you never see him again.
Hi Landru,
You are right. If I was just waved through behind the truck neither him or I would be ranting about the other.
am willing to bet that the cop was on steroids.
Ever wonder why many cops are so stupid? The steroids they take inhibit rational thinking as well as making one more aggressive, to the point of irrational thinking and stupidity.
Of course the “laws” are set up to absolve them of responsibility for their actions. Police departments do not test for steroids.
Observe SWAT teams who are all tatted up and on steroids who cannot read the address on a warrant properly and end up hitting the wrong house, often with disastrous results. They claim that “dynamic entry” tactics, smashing and destroying everything in sight is from an “adrenaline rush” and not steroid use (yeah right).
“Qualified immunity” and other “carve-outs” are but two of many “laws” that absolve cops of actions resulting from their inherent stupidity and steroid use.
Not good…
That is something we are never, ever allowed to point out even though it is a SERIOUS problem. So many of them have the tell-tale signs: exaggerated puffed out check, swollen neck that practically melts into the shoulders, and overlarge head which of course was topped with the type of buzz cut that made them look like they just got out of marine corps boot camp. The majority of male cops in Loudoun County had that look. I have friends who moved from Leesburg out to Clarke County and were shocked to see county cops who actually looked normal.
The police in China are probably far more tolerable than the thugs in most of the US.
Puffed out chest not check.
Hi Metal,
I am south of Loudoun County. I have been pulled over a few times by the Sherriff’s Office and county cops over the years, but most have let me off with a warning. Very little attitude. Hell, I even donate each year to our local Sherriff’s Office, because they have come by the house when the alarm has gone off and we have been out of town. The town cops are the most difficult to deal with and the only ones that have given me a ticket (yielding at a stop sign when no traffic was coming). I was too young and tired at the time to argue about it. Now, I am just a middle aged cranky woman who doesn’t give a crap and has plenty of energy to yell back.
The guy yesterday is how people get killed. What was the point of stopping me in the middle of an intersection with a yellow light? So forty cars could see that this guy was having a bad day. He needs to be put on desk duty.
You also could have been rear ended due to his antics, hurting your kids and you! Not to wish ill but poetic justice would have been someone picking him off from another direction.
Hi anarchyst,
You are probably right. He wasn’t a small guy. Stood over 6′ and was pretty built. If he decided to yank me out of the car there wasn’t too much I would be able to do about it.
The default vulgarity of cops tells you all you need to know about their mental state. We are ruled by vulgarians.
Well, I’m glad he got away and I hope the speeder disposes of any distinctive items that might help the police identify him from the video log.
The government is also legally empowered to murder—from police brutality to the death penalty to war.
In fact, governments probably have to be among the top five global causes of death historically.
Agreed Bryce,
Look at how the US military is blowing up Venezuelan boats in international waters, sounds like a war crime to me. I hope if they actually try to invade Venezuela they get their butts kicked good and hard.
Hi Mike,
I think with the bombing of the boats in the Caribbean and the ICE raids the military is going to lose support here very soon. I didn’t have an issue with them exporting the guys who are sitting in jail (gang members, pedophiles, rapists, etc.) who were here illegally. I also wouldn’t have a problem with ICE/Homeland Security notifying (not terrorizing) people that they are in the country illegally and they need to self deport by such and such date. Now they are invading businesses, homes, cities, etc. I have a problem with this. Nobody deserves to have their door kicked in at 3 AM in the morning or have their business raided.
This chase starts on I-30 near Bryant, Ark., and proceeds eastbound past I-430 in Little Rock.
A college girlfriend in Arkansas married a cop, whom she described as ‘driving like a bat out of hell’ [don’t they all?].
This could be T’s hubby in the video, heroically doing 129 mph on the left shoulder of I-30. One would think there might be … ummm, guidelines or something.
The way the cops seem to get excited about chasing people must awaken a predator/prey response in them.
Instead of walking about, talking to people and building relationships, they seem to get their jollies by being the hall monitor of public life.
No different than the slave master of a plantation.
The chase that killed Tristan Hollis and injured the others happened about an hour plus southeast of me in Priceville, Alabama. Priceville used to be a small Southern cotton town but now it’s swallowed up into metro-Huntsville and is rife with carpetbaggers and other foreigners.
The “hero” that murdered the young teenager is the son of Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman.
How the hell he ended up in small town Alabama is beyond me. He’s well known as a loose cannon (see: https://whnt.com/news/decatur/news-19s-obtains-personnel-file-of-former-priceville-police-officer/)
Priceville fired the SOB. Then the “hero” sued the town for $10M under some bullshit claim he hadn’t been properly trained & the policy didn’t preclude him from behaving as a fool whilst in “hot pursuit” (channeling Roscoe P. Coaltrain). Priceville city council re-hired the bastard & is now stuck with him, all his baggage, and the taxpayers will be on the hook for paying the family of the young teens he murdered and maimed. (See: https://whnt.com/news/decatur/fired-priceville-police-officer-returning-to-work-city-could-face-lawsuits/)
The latest is Priceville updated their policy. (See: https://www.waff.com/2025/10/17/priceville-police-change-pursuit-policy-after-teens-death/)
Oh joy. That’ll comfort the families of the victims and the taxpayers.
Not that the city leaders are squeaky clean. They use I-65 as an ATM by camping out on the on/off ramps to Highway 67. And they hang out on the southern end of the Tennessee River Bridge getting double fines for drivers “speeding” in a construction zone. It’s quite lucrative and netted them several new cruisers, trucks, and sirens that go whoo-whoo-whoo, all in the subdued paint scheme to hide from the citizens they’ve sworn to protect.
Regarding the “hero” cop.
Hopefully the county knows what Japanese corporations do with embarrassments they can’t get rid of; they give them a desk and meaningless make work to perform. If the worker fails to perform the task correctly they get fired, if they do they continue on. Everyone there of course knows why you are doing it so endless humiliation until you retire, kill yourself or quit.
Of course this hero won’t understand the logic of endlessly inventorying the supply cabinet.