High-speed chase ends in wreck and arrest

Traveling at speeds up to 120 mph while fleeing pursuing law enforcement officers, Zachary Bandy, 43, struck a vehicle on I-40, ran off the highway and hit a tree, according to a report by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Bandy, a Eufaula businessman, was not seriously injured and after being treated at a Sallisaw hospital was booked into the Sequoyah County Detention Center on the felony charge of eluding/attempting to elude a police officer.

After pleading not guilty, he was placed on the felony disposition docket and ordered to appear on May 17.

Meanwhile, according to reports, he has a hold order from the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office, charged with felony aggravated assault on a police officer.

OHP Trooper Spencer Schmille filed a probable cause affidavit following the chase that began at about 11:30 a.m. on March 30 in the westbound lanes of I-40.

Schmille said the suspect was in a 2021 White Chevrolet Suburban, fleeing from a Sebastian County, Ark. Sheriff’s deputy.

An Oklahoma dispatcher advised Schmille that the suspect was being served divorce papers by Sebastian County deputies when the suspect fled, running over a deputy’s foot in the process. As a result he is charged in Sebastian County with assault on a police officer. After Bandy crossed the state line into Arkansas the pursuit of the suspect by Arkansas police was joined by several other lawmen, according to Schmille, including Schmille, OHP Trooper Tim Parrish, Muldrow Police Officer Brad Roberts, Roland Police Officer Jason Stone and others. Schmille said he observed the suspect traveling at speeds of approximately 120 mph while 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 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.