Arkansas State Police troopers have executed a PIT maneuver on the wrong car at least twice in recent years, ramming vehicles driven by people who were not fleeing and not suspected of any crime. One trooper retired within days of his mistake; another was fired three days after his. Neither innocent driver is publicly known to have filed a lawsuit, and the legal path for anyone in that position is narrower than it looks because of a Supreme Court doctrine called qualified immunity.
The Two Wrong-Car Incidents
Cpl. Thomas Hubbard, September 2023
On the evening of September 10, 2023, Cpl. Thomas Hubbard was chasing two vehicles traveling over 100 miles per hour on Interstate 40 near West Memphis. The suspect car and an uninvolved car were both white four-door sedans. Hubbard performed the PIT maneuver on the wrong one. The driver and passenger of the innocent vehicle were not injured and declined medical treatment at the scene.1KATV. Arkansas Trooper Retires After He PIT Maneuvers Wrong Vehicle
Hubbard’s supervisor requested an internal review immediately. Hubbard did not return to duty and submitted a letter of retirement a few days later.1KATV. Arkansas Trooper Retires After He PIT Maneuvers Wrong Vehicle No public record indicates that the occupants of the struck vehicle filed a lawsuit or received a settlement.
Trooper J. Fitzgerald, January 2026
On January 18, 2026, at about 11:45 a.m., a probationary trooper identified as J. Fitzgerald attempted to stop a white Buick Envista driven by Johnny Williams, 38, on Interstate 630 in Little Rock. Williams had been clocked at 92 miles per hour in a 60-mph zone. After the trooper detected the smell of marijuana and confirmed Williams was driving on a suspended license, Williams fled eastbound.2Arkansas Department of Public Safety. ASP Trooper Terminated After Conducting TVI on Incorrect Vehicle During Pursuit
Fitzgerald briefly lost sight of the suspect vehicle while re-entering traffic. He then spotted a white SUV exiting at exit 5 at a legal speed, misidentified it as Williams’ car, and performed the PIT maneuver. After forcing the vehicle to a stop, Fitzgerald ordered the female driver out at gunpoint before realizing she was not the suspect. A 9-year-old boy was also in the vehicle, according to reporting by the Arkansas Times.3Arkansas Times. Arkansas State Police Press On With Controlled-Crash PIT Maneuvers Despite Injuries, Deaths No one was injured.2Arkansas Department of Public Safety. ASP Trooper Terminated After Conducting TVI on Incorrect Vehicle During Pursuit
Fitzgerald had been hired in October 2024 and was still on probation. He was placed on administrative duty immediately and terminated on the morning of January 21, 2026. Colonel Mike Hagar, director of the Arkansas State Police, said: “Even though we know humans sometimes make mistakes, a mistake of this nature has serious consequences.”2Arkansas Department of Public Safety. ASP Trooper Terminated After Conducting TVI on Incorrect Vehicle During Pursuit No criminal charges were filed against Fitzgerald.
As of early 2026, the female driver had requested to remain unidentified and asked for privacy. There is no public indication that she has filed a lawsuit or retained legal counsel.4Arkansas Times. State Trooper Fired After Ramming Wrong Car in Botched PIT Maneuver on I-630
Why These Lawsuits Are Difficult
When police physically strike a vehicle, courts generally treat it as a “seizure” under the Fourth Amendment, and the question becomes whether the force was objectively reasonable under the circumstances. The Supreme Court applied that framework in Scott v. Harris (2007), a case where a deputy rammed a fleeing suspect’s car, and concluded the force was not unreasonable given the danger the suspect posed.
In practice, officers often invoke qualified immunity, a defense that shields them from personal liability unless their conduct violated a constitutional right that was “clearly established” at the time. The Supreme Court has repeatedly sided with officers on that defense in vehicle pursuit cases, including Plumhoff v. Rickard (2014) and Mullenix v. Luna (2015).5Police1. How Section 1983 Is Applied to Lawsuits Over Vehicle Pursuits That makes federal civil rights suits against individual troopers hard to win.
Wrong-car cases add a wrinkle. The reasonableness analysis that typically favors officers during high-speed chases looks different when the person struck was not fleeing, not suspected of any crime, and posed no threat. Whether that distinction produces a lawsuit in the Fitzgerald case remains to be seen.
The Harper Settlement and the Policy It Produced
The most significant PIT lawsuit against the Arkansas State Police did not involve a wrong car. On July 9, 2020, Corporal Rodney Dunn attempted to pull over Janice Nicole Harper for speeding on U.S. Highway 67/167 in Pulaski County. Dashcam footage showed Harper slowing down and turning on her hazard lights, looking for a safe spot to stop along a stretch of highway lined with concrete barriers. After several minutes, Dunn performed the maneuver, causing Harper’s SUV to strike a barrier and flip onto its roof. Harper was two months pregnant.6KARK. Arkansas State Police Settle PIT Maneuver Lawsuit Which Injured Pregnant Woman
An internal review found Dunn had violated the agency’s use-of-force policy, and his supervisors all concluded the maneuver was unjustified. Dunn received unspecified discipline but remained employed as a 27-year veteran trooper in the Highway Patrol Division.7Arkansas Department of Public Safety. Settlement Agreement in Civil Action Against State Police
In November 2021, the state settled Harper’s lawsuit with a $150,000 payment and a rewrite of the PIT policy.8Arkansas Times. Settlement of Lawsuit Over State Police Pursuit Tactic Proposes $150,000 Payment The revised policy replaced a subjective standard with an objective one, limiting the maneuver to situations where a trooper needed to “protect a third person or an officer from imminent death or serious physical injury.”6KARK. Arkansas State Police Settle PIT Maneuver Lawsuit Which Injured Pregnant Woman
The rewrite addressed when to use the tactic. It did not address vehicle identification. Attorney Andrew Norwood, who represented Harper, said as much after the 2023 Hubbard incident, calling that case “negligence” rather than a policy failure.9KARK. Attorney Who Sued Arkansas State Police Over PIT Maneuver Discusses TVI Done in Error
How Often Arkansas Troopers Use the Maneuver
The Arkansas State Police now call the technique a “Tactical Vehicle Intervention,” or TVI, and rely on it heavily. In 2016, troopers used it in roughly 11 percent of pursuits. By 2024 that figure had climbed to about 47 percent, and by 2025 it exceeded 52 percent.3Arkansas Times. Arkansas State Police Press On With Controlled-Crash PIT Maneuvers Despite Injuries, Deaths In 2024 alone, troopers engaged in 559 pursuits that produced 265 PIT maneuvers, 106 injuries, and six deaths, three of them civilians. Between 2017 and mid-2024, PIT maneuvers led to eight deaths statewide.10Arkansas Advocate. Arkansas State Police, Prosecuting Attorneys Announce Crackdown on Car Chase Suspects
Colonel Hagar has publicly told troopers: “As soon as you can articulate they’re fleeing, put them in the ditch.” In a May 2026 interview, he said the agency would not make “sweeping changes based on one Trooper’s mistake.”11Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Arkansas State Police Director Hagar Unwavering For anyone struck in a wrong-car incident, that stance signals that changes to identification protocols will not come from inside the agency, and any legal remedy will have to come from the courts.