Dash-camera video and a State Police incident report released under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act show an Arkansas State Police sergeant firing a rifle from his moving patrol car at about 70 mph to shoot out both front tires of a fleeing tractor-trailer on Interstate 30 near Hope — 13 rounds in all — during an October 12 chase in which police say the truck struck an Arkansas Highway Police unit and a State Police unit. The records, reported on Saturday, October 31 by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, TXK Today and SWARK News, give the fullest public account yet of the pursuit. The driver, Victor Joel Colon, 29, of Punta Gorda, Florida, remains in the Hempstead County Detention Center on a $150,000 bond, with a first court date set for November 4 at 9 a.m., and as of Saturday no felony case had been filed against him in Hempstead County Circuit Court.
Source: SWARK News (Oct. 31, 2026)
How the chase began — a white semi that would not stop for Highway Police
According to the State Police incident report, the white tractor-trailer had fled from Arkansas Highway Police in Saline County earlier on October 12 and had also been picked up on a camera in Clark County. At about 10:37 a.m., a Highway Police officer spotted the truck westbound on I-30 at mile marker 34, east of Hope, and Highway Police tried to slow it by getting in front of it; radio traffic indicates the driver kept trying to go around the unit and tried to ram it. At about 10:41 a.m. the truck took Exit 31 into Hope and turned onto North Hazel Street, where it sideswiped a Highway Police unit. It then ran along Commerce Boulevard, Arkansas 29 and U.S. 278 and Hervey Street before turning back onto I-30, this time heading east.
Source: American Truck Drivers, from the Arkansas State Police incident report (Oct. 31, 2026)
State Police take over — and the truck hits a second police unit
At 10:44 a.m., Troop G dispatch called State Police into the pursuit, according to the incident report. Trooper Adrienne Colvin became the lead unit and Highway Police dropped out; Sgt. Kyle Peek became the second unit. Troopers reported the truck had also collided with a State Police unit. On the interstate the truck moved into the left lane and kept going east at about 70 mph. Peek took his issued rifle from the passenger seat and decided to try to disable the front tires if a safe opportunity presented itself. In his written narrative, quoted by TXK Today and the trucking report, Peek explained: 'Given the circumstances of the situation specifically that the driver was clearly not going to stop and had already shown he was not afraid to ram or damage a police unit during his flight I felt this was my only option to end the pursuit.'
Source: Arkansas State Police incident report, via SWARK News
The 13 rounds — five at one tire, eight at the other, four miles apart
Peek pulled up on the passenger side of the truck, rested his rifle on his side mirror and fired three rounds at the front passenger tire, missing, according to his report. He pulled back up and fired two more rounds, which hit; that tire went flat, but the driver kept going east at 70 mph in the right lane. About four miles later, Peek moved up on the driver's side: he fired three rounds at the front driver's-side steer tire without disabling it, then five more that deflated it — 13 rounds in all. The released video shows the truck rolling down I-30 with its front tires coming apart. Spike strips had also been deployed. The truck finally stopped on the grass shoulder near mile marker 37 at about 10:50 a.m., and troopers took the driver into custody about two minutes later. Highway Police closed I-30 eastbound behind the stop. No injuries were reported over police radio during the chase, the Democrat-Gazette reported.
Source: American Truck Drivers, from the incident report and dash-camera video (Oct. 31, 2026)
The charges against Victor Joel Colon are accusations listed on a jail roster; they are preliminary and may change, and no felony case had been filed in court as of October 31. Colon is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. SWARK News found no lawyer listed for him and no public explanation of why the driver did not stop.
The driver — jailed in Hempstead County, court date November 4
Colon was booked into the Hempstead County Detention Center and is held on a $150,000 bond, TXK Today and Southwest Arkansas Radio reported. Police list the charges as three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing, reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, according to those reports. The Highway Police unit that was struck was still drivable and was moved to the Arkansas Department of Transportation District 3 headquarters; photographs published with the video show its bent push bumper and crumpled front end, alongside the truck's shredded front tires.
Source: SWARK News (Oct. 31, 2026)
Background: shooting at tires is not in the State Police pursuit playbook the newspaper reviewed
The Democrat-Gazette noted that the Arkansas State Police pursuit policy lists tactics such as the tactical vehicle intervention (TVI), roadblocks, spike strips and boxing in a vehicle — and does not mention shooting at tires. SWARK News said it had not reviewed the full policy itself and could not confirm whether the shooting is under internal review. Shooting at a moving vehicle's tires is a rare and debated tactic in U.S. policing: many agencies discourage or ban firing at moving vehicles because missed rounds can hit other drivers or bystanders and a sudden tire failure can itself cause a crash — risks that are magnified when the target is a loaded tractor-trailer travelling at highway speed among other traffic.
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, via SWARK News
Why this matters on I-30 — one of America's great truck corridors
Interstate 30 is the main route between Little Rock and Texarkana and carries heavy truck traffic through Hempstead County, on the corridor that links Arkansas to Texas and the Dallas–Fort Worth freight hub. For the professional drivers who use it daily — including the many Punjabi truckers who run Texas–Midwest lanes through Hope — this case is a stark example of how a single fleeing vehicle can close an interstate and put every driver around it at risk, and of how far one agency was willing to go to end it. It also underlines the rule every commercial driver knows: a police pursuit is never survivable as a career or a court case, and the charges that follow an alleged ramming — aggravated assault on officers, on top of fleeing — are far more serious than the stop that started it. Those are allegations in this case, not findings.
Source: American Truck Drivers (Oct. 31, 2026)
What happens next
Colon is due in court for the first time on November 4 at 9 a.m. in Hempstead County, when prosecutors may file formal charges in circuit court; the jail-roster charges could change at that point. SWARK News said it will update the story if prosecutors file formal charges or State Police comment on the shooting, and whether the tire-shooting is under any internal review remains unconfirmed. The dash-camera video itself is now public under the state's Freedom of Information Act and will be central evidence in whatever case follows.
Source: SWARK News (Oct. 31, 2026)