A man accused of leading Little Rock police on a vehicle chase that ended with one pedestrian dead and another hospitalized Tuesday has been charged with first-degree murder.
Jordan Matthew Vandenberghe, 24, of Roland lost control of a stolen Nissan Maxima and crashed in the 10000 block of Chicot Road while fleeing an officer about 6:50 p.m., according to police. The vehicle flipped over and struck Trendia Horton, 39, and her daughter Nahtali, 18. Witnesses said the two had been jogging on the sidewalk.
Trendia Horton was pronounced dead at the scene. Nahtali Horton was taken to CHI St. Vincent Infirmary for treatment. She remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday, police said.
Police identified the officer involved in the chase as Zachary Hardman, a three-year veteran of the department who was assigned to its southwest division as a patrolman.
Police Chief Kenton Buckner, speaking to reporters Wednesday, released few additional details in the case. He declined to answer questions about several aspects of the chase, such as the speed, duration, whether the officer had activated his lights and siren, and whether department policies governing public safety and officer safety had been followed.
According to witness accounts, the police car's emergency signals were not on until after the chase had ended.
"Any and everything involving that pursuit -- when we started, when we stopped, was the policy complied with, were we in compliance, duties and responsibilities of the officer, duties and responsibilities of the supervisor -- all those questions will be answered at the appropriate time," Buckner said. The investigation is ongoing, he said.
Buckner said a complete police report and dashboard camera footage from the officer's vehicle would be released later. A crash reconstruction team is involved in the investigation to "scientifically put together the pieces of the puzzle that led to this," he said.
Hardman was placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation continues, in accordance with department policy.
A collection of stuffed animals, flowers and angel figurines had been left at the Chicot Road scene Wednesday.
Around it was destruction -- three broken mailboxes, shards of glass and plastic, and chunks of earth along a weaving trail of tire tracks through residents' front yards. A sign showing a 40-mph speed limit on the five-lane road lay flattened and twisted. The rear of a sport utility vehicle, parked off the street, had been crushed.
Members of the Horton family and neighborhood residents gathered at the scene Wednesday afternoon and expressed anger at Vandenberghe. But they also expressed anger at the police.
"It could have been prevented by them stopping the chase," said Antonio Givens, Trendia Horton's cousin.
Mark Lehey, who lives on Vega Road just off Chicot Road, called the chase "senseless." He said the officer activated his emergency signals after the Maxima had careened onto the sidewalk, struck Trendia and Nahtali Horton, and came to rest upside down.
"I waved at [Trendia and Nahtali Horton]," Lehey said, describing the moments before the crash. "They waved back. I turned to go home because I live at the third house off the corner, and I heard 'bam bam bam.' I turned back around. He was sliding down the sidewalk in the stolen car. He had to be going airborne. And he flipped over, hit them right here and continued going down the street. He was flipped over going down the sidewalk."
Lehey said the women, whom he saw jogging in the neighborhood daily, never had a chance to avoid the vehicle.
"It happened too quick," he said.
Kokethia Tyson said she works and lives in the area, and saw Trendia and Nahtali Horton jogging together every morning and afternoon. Tyson said her brother called her Tuesday and warned her that police were chasing a vehicle south on Chicot Road between 80 and 90 mph without emergency lights.
Tyson said when she learned that two pedestrians had been struck, she "knew who it was instantly."
After the crash, police said, Vandenberghe was treated for minor injuries and arrested. According to Buckner, Vandenberghe provided a statement to investigators in which he "basically confessed to stealing the vehicle and having possession of the vehicle."
Vandenberghe faces additional charges of first-degree battery, fleeing, theft of property and theft by receiving, police said.
Court records show that he was on probation after being convicted in December of felony charges of theft by receiving, fraudulent use of a credit card or debit card, and breaking or entering.
He'd previously been convicted of first-degree criminal mischief, a felony.
In various social media posts, Vandenberghe indicates that he's an aspiring disc jockey.
He posted on his Facebook page earlier this year that it had been "impossible to find work" after his first felony conviction. But in later posts, he said he was working two jobs, one at a Maumelle sports bar, to make money "the legal & honest way" (in all capital letters).
Details about the car that struck the women weren't immediately available. A passenger in the vehicle, a woman, was not injured and was not charged, police said.
Vandenberghe remained in the Pulaski County jail late Wednesday.
Friends and relatives of Trendia and Nahtali Horton returned to the crash site for a vigil Wednesday night.
Holding lit white candles, relatives, friends and neighbors prayed, sang and remembered Trendia Horton as a woman who Givens said "remembered that even if things seemed dark tonight, light would come in the morning."
"She was a good woman," Givens said. "She didn't have enemies. She enjoyed life."
Family members released two star-shaped balloons. One read, "RIP Trendia" and the other "Get well soon Nahtali." The balloons floated up slowly before resting together in the branches of a tree overlooking the crash site.
Givens said Trendia Horton and her daughter had moved into the neighborhood in June. Trendia Horton was a small-claims representative at Transamerica Corp., but she was a mother first and foremost, he said.
"She was a mother, but also a friend to her daughter," Givens said.
Dorothy Leverette, an aunt of Trendia Horton, said her niece was always smiling.
"She was an extremely happy kind of girl. She was loving. Never a frown," Leverette said.
Buckner, who was flanked by assistant chiefs Alice Fulk, Wayne Bewley and Hayward Finks as he spoke to reporters Wednesday, said he had spoken to members of the Horton family. He said he understands their questions about the police chase.
"I think those are intelligent questions that anyone in the community would want to know, particularly the family members of the deceased and the young lady who's sitting up there in St. Vincent hospital right now. If I were a family member, I would have those same questions," he said.
Buckner called Hardman, the pursuing officer, a "good employee" who had received numerous letters of commendation and had no history of serious discipline, such as suspension.
Buckner wouldn't say whether Hardman had provided a statement to investigators regarding the chase.
"I understand this is frustrating when you have a press conference like this. You want more. Understand that two years from now, I'll be on a witness stand in civil court or criminal court for a case or something, so I want to make sure that this investigation is protected going forward," he said.
Metro on 09/17/2015