A harrowing account from the LRPD this morning of a traffic stop that turned into a car chase that turned into a foot chase, with the suspect later arrested on a raft of charges, including DWI and drug counts. Police say Ricard Norwood Giacoletti, Jr., 33, was taken into custody and is currently being held in the Pulaski County Regional Detention Center. 

According to an LRPD incident report, a Little Rock Police officer was sitting in his patrol car at the Kum and Go store at Chicot and Baseline in S.W. Little Rock around 2 a.m. on Thursday when he saw a 1999 Chevrolet truck “burning rubber” in the intersection before racing west on Baseline Road at a high rate of speed. The officer hit his bluelights and gave chase, catching up to the truck at Merrivale Drive, where the driver pulled over. 

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As the officer called the stop in, the report states, the truck sped away again, with the officer in pursuit. The truck reportedly blew a stop sign, then ran into a yard at 8503 Tedburn Dr., t-boning a 1988 Oldsmobile Cutlass parked there. The pickup took off again, hitting a tree, at which point a female passenger jumped out the window of the truck, asking for help, telling the officer that she’d been trying to get out of the vehicle earlier, but couldn’t. 

Police said that as the officer approached the driver’s door of the truck with his gun drawn, Giacoletti jumped out and ran east on Tedburn Drive. The officer was able to catch up, tackling him and taking Giacoletti into custody. Both he and the female subject who’d jumped from the truck were later taken to local hospitals for treatment. The woman passenger was not charged in the incident.  

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According to the report, police later found a loaded .38 caliber revolver, 115 grams of methamphetamine, and 65 grams of marijuana in the truck. Giacoletti is currently being held on several charges, including DWI, fleeing, reckless driving, no motor vehicle insurance, driving on a revoked or suspended license, possession of a controlled substance, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, and failure to stop after an accident.