Driver charged with murder after AR police chase that ended in deadly crash
Mar 27, 2025
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A Memphis man was charged after a woman died following a deadly high-speed pursuit on Interstate 40 on Tuesday in Arkansas, state police said.
Torkilo Hambrick, 30, has been charged with First-Degree Murder, Felony Fleeing, Possession of a Firearm by Certain Persons and two cou
nts of Second-Degree Battery, Arkansas State Police said Thursday.
Laterrika Woods, 29, of Memphis, died in the crash. Latarica Walker, 26, remains in critical condition. Another passenger, Zuri Jones, is stable after surgery, her mother said.
Memphis woman killed, another injured in AR crash after high-speed chase on I-40
Police say Hambrick, who was driving a Dodge Ram pickup, fled 18 miles at speeds up to 120 mph after police tried to initiate a traffic stop.
His vehicle crashed in a ditch in Prairie County after a state trooper executed a tactical maneuver.
Jones' mother, who didn't want to be named, says her daughter didn't know Hambrick well but was friends with Laterrika Woods. They were all returning from a vacation, and her daughter said they pleaded for Hambrick to pull over.
"He wasn't listening," said the victim's mother. "I think my daughter said he pulled over a moment. And then the police got to the car he took off again. So you know, you know it's out of your control when you're you're not the driver, so you're not in control of it."
During the investigation, troopers found two firearms, an unknown amount of money, a bottle of promethazine, marijuana, and narcotics in the vehicle.
DA will seek adult charges for juvenile in rape, murder case
Police say Hambrick was found to have an outstanding extradition warrant from Shelby County, Tennessee, for probation violation. Hambrick is a registered sex offender.
According to the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry, Hambrick has had charges since 2012 of domestic assault, aggravated assault, driving while license suspended revoked canceled, unlawful possession of a weapon, aggravated robbery, and possession of controlled substance.
In a tearful Facebook post, Hambrick said he was pulling over when they hit his truck, saying the speed limit was 75 and he was doing 70.
Police say that Woods’ body will be sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab to determine the cause and manner of death.
WREG has reported on Arkansas State Police PIT maneuvers and ASP aggressively going after vehicles that refuse to stop. We've also shown how sometimes those PIT maneuvers turn deadly and have led to lawsuits.
ASP told us they do pull back in a lot cases and cease the pursuit.
"The idea that, you know, we're just being cowboys, and we're going to chase them until, you know, this thing concludes, that's not true," said Col. Mike Hager with ASP in a 2024 interview.
But Jones' mother thinks police should focus more on safety, especially when innocent people are involved.
"The police shouldn't be able to knock people over in the ditch," she said. "They shouldn't be able to do that, because it was three other peoples in the car with that guy that was trying to stop. That's just not fair. I don't see any fairness to that, and I really think that's a law that should be changed in Arkansas, that they can do that to people." ...read more read less