A man currently suing the Little Rock Police Department struck a Cross County sheriff's deputy with a car after fleeing the courthouse early Wednesday in Wynne, a sheriff's office spokesman said.
Roderick Talley, whose allegations of false affidavits and arrests against the Little Rock department drew national attention in October, was scheduled for a jury trial Wednesday morning at the Cross County Courthouse in Wynne when he ran from the building, stole a rental car and hit a deputy with the vehicle, sheriff's office spokesman Sgt. Jeff Nichols said.
Nichols said the deputy was not seriously injured and Talley was able to escape about 9:49 a.m. Talley was last seen driving a light green 2019 Ford Fiesta, Nichols said.
In a statement released through his attorney, Mike Laux, Talley said late Wednesday that he would surrender himself today.
Talley was arrested on Jan. 5 in Cross County on forgery in reference to a forged check from March 2016, according to court records.
Talley was scheduled to have a jury trial Wednesday morning but did not appear on time and the judge issued a warrant for his arrest on failure to appear, Nichols said. When Talley arrived late, a sheriff's deputy placed him under arrest, but Talley escaped while the deputy was escorting him to the jail, Nichols said.
Talley then ran through a parking lot and stole the car, which Nichols said a friend of Talley's from Little Rock had rented, and ran into a deputy. Nichols said the deputy was in front of the vehicle ordering Talley to stop when the vehicle pulled forward, pushing the deputy onto the hood.
Talley then traveled through the parking lot with the deputy on the hood until the car turned and the man rolled off, Nichols said.
The Cross County sheriff's office said in a statement Wednesday that investigators had filed new felony charges against Talley, but did not specify what the charges would be.
Talley filed a lawsuit in 2017 alleging Little Rock police had violated his civil rights when they executed a "no knock" warrant on his residence on Aug. 10, 2017. The lawsuit gained national attention when Talley's allegations were published in The Washington Post.
Laux said in the statement that his office considered the failure-to-appear arrest made at the courthouse to be a retaliation for Talley's part in the civil-rights lawsuit in Little Rock.
Just the day before Talley ran from police, a woman filed an order of protection against him in Pulaski County Circuit Court, court documents show.
Metro on 11/15/2018