SALLISAW – Zachary Aaron Bandy, 44, who once operated the Flamingo Fish and Marine store in Eufaula, pleaded no contest on Aug. 26 to eluding/attempting to elude police in Sequoyah County.
Sequoyah County District Judge J. Jeffrey Payton placed Bandy on four years of probation.
The initial charge against Bandy in Oklahoma was filed in April 2023.
According to reports, the suspect was being served divorce papers by a Sebastian County, Ark., deputy when he fled, running over the deputy’s foot in the process.
Arkansas officers pursued Bandy from Ft. Smith, Ark., to the Oklahoma state line where Oklahoma lawmen joined in the chase, which sometimes exceeded 120 miles an hour.
In a probable cause affidavit filed by OHP Trooper Spencer Schmille following the chase, the pursuit began at about 11:30 a.m. on March 30 in the westbound lanes on Interstate 40 near the state line.
Schmille said the suspect was in a 2021 White Chevrolet Suburban, fleeing from a Sebastian County Sheriff ’s deputy.
After Bandy crossed the state line into Arkansas the pursuit of the suspect by Arkansas police was joined by several other lawmen, including Schmille, OHP Trooper Tim Parrish, Muldrow Police Officer Brad Roberts, Roland Police Officer Jason Stone and others.
Schmille said he observed the suspect weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to flee officers.
As Schmille was talking to dispatch, he “observed several cars slowing down. He saw debris fly and Muldrow Police officer Roberts attempting to set stop sticks at mile marker 319 on the interstate.”
The suspect drove onto the shoulder at a high rate of speed, trying to go around civilian vehicles, when he lost control of the Suburban, struck a civilian vehicle, left the road, went through a ditch and struck a tree, according to Schmille.
Bandy was stuck in the vehicle for several minutes because of damage to the car and by a tree he hit, requiring the help of lawmen to extricate him, Schmille reported.
The suspect was first taken to the Sallisaw hospital, where he was treated and released, and then was taken to jail.
