A Little Rock man and his wife were arrested Sunday morning after he allegedly stole property from a guest at a Hot Springs motel and his wife then reportedly led Hot Springs police on a high-speed pursuit with five children in her vehicle.
Matthew Patrick Crews, 34, was charged with felony theft of property over $1,000, punishable by up to six years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of fleeing on foot.
His wife, Adrienne Nichole Crews, 37, was charged with felony counts of fleeing in a vehicle and five counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, each punishable by up to six years.
She was also cited for reckless driving, two counts of driving the wrong way, two counts of leaving the scene of an accident, five counts of no child safety seat, seven counts of disobeying a stop sign and three counts of disobeying a traffic signal. She was later released on a $15,000 bond and is set to appear May 6 in Garland County District Court.
Matthew Crews was being held on a $3,000 bond and was set to appear Monday in district court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly after 8:30 a.m. Sunday, officers were dispatched to the All Seasons Lodge, 1127 Central Ave., regarding a break-in to a man's vehicle and the theft of a suitcase containing numerous custom bowling balls and equipment.
While exiting his room, the victim reportedly saw a shirtless man, later identified as Matthew Crews, in a neighboring room with the door open "going through his stolen luggage." When Matthew Crews attempted to get into a gold Toyota Tundra with the stolen property, the man confronted him and the two got into an argument that escalated into a fistfight as Officer Jason Greene arrived on the scene.
Matthew Crews jumped into the passenger seat of the Toyota as Greene approached and it sped out of the parking lot onto Central with Adrienne Crews allegedly driving and refusing to stop after Greene activated his lights and siren.
She allegedly ran the red light at Central and Grand Avenue and headed east onto Grand, crossing the median at one point into oncoming traffic. She ran the stop sign and went the wrong way down Rugg Street to Olive Street and then Oak Street, traveling "well over the speed limit" as she made her way back to Grand headed west, the affidavit said.
She ran the traffic light at Central and Grand and headed south on Central to Hagen and Murray streets to Garland Avenue to Hobson then Linwood then back to Murray, where she collided with a telephone pole and the one-way sign, blowing the front tire of the truck and "causing sparks to shower from the pole."
She continued the wrong way down Murray, nearly causing a T-bone collision while crossing West Grand and then continuing at high speeds with the flat tire onto Ouachita Avenue "nearly losing control." She turned north on Hazel, ran the stop sign and collided with a police unit driven by Cpl. Nathan Rines and then struck a parked vehicle.
At that point, Matthew Crews jumped out and fled on foot, still shirtless and wearing cargo shorts, but he was captured a few minutes later on Prospect Avenue and was identified by Greene as the one who fled earlier.
Adrienne Crews followed commands and was removed from the vehicle and then officers discovered there was an adult female, Adrienne's sister, 33, and five young children "cowering down" in the back seat, none of them restrained during the pursuit. It was determined two of the juveniles were the sister's sons and the other three, two boys and a girl, were the children of Adrienne and Matthew Crews.
"Due to the extreme recklessness of the pursuit and circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of her and the children's lives," she was charged with the felony fleeing and endangerment counts, the affidavit said.
It was noted the victim from the motel was able to retrieve most of his stolen belongings from Matthew Crews before the pursuit began, but he came to the scene after the wreck and found one item that belonged to him in the truck.
