The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

It’s a Long Way to Hope

Posted on | May 10, 2026 | No Comments

If you’ve ever been to Lithia Springs, Georgia, where I grew up, you know where Thornton Road is. When I was a kid, parts of it were a dirt road, but now it’s a major thoroughfare. As it comes up north from I-20, Thornton Road is Georgia Route 6, but when it crosses Bankhead Highway (U.S. 78) it becomes U.S. 278. It’s a fine road that goes up through Dallas, Rockmart and Cedartown before crossing over into Alabama. It never once occurred to me to wonder where that highway goes after it gets to Alabama, until the other day I was watching a YouTube video of an Arkansas State Police pursuit and saw the scene depicted in the photo above: “Wow — 278 goes all the way to Arkansas?”

Yes, after making a long loop through north Mississippi — among other things, going pass the campus of Ole Miss — U.S. 278 crosses the Mississippi near Greenville and enters Arkansas and then goes about 180 miles west before it crosses U.S. 29 in the town of Hope. Perhaps you’ve heard of the most famous native of Hope, Arkansas, but that’s just coincidental. Here’s the guy that got my attention:

Kywaun Renel Myhkeem Washington

A couple of weeks ago, Trooper Adrienne Colvin was on patrol in Hope when she spotted a tan Mercury Grand Marquis turn off the highway into a gas station. She ran the car’s license plate and found that the tag actually belonged on a black Chevy Sonic. That’s a crime called “fictitious plates.” So when the Mercury left the gas station, Trooper Colvin blue-lighted the vehicle, which pulled over. Behind the wheel was 26-year-old Kywaun Renel Myhkeem Washington, from Little Rock.

Little Rock is more than 100 miles away from Hope, which to my mind raises the question of why this guy was so far from home on a Thursday afternoon, but Trooper Colvin was focused on the issue of why the license plate from a Chevy was on that Mercury. The driver didn’t have any explanation that made sense. Meanwhile, Trooper Colvin took his license back to her patrol car and, upon entering Kywaun Washington’s name into the computer system, learned that he had outstanding warrants for his arrest. She then returned to the Mercury, informed Washington that he needed to “exit the vehicle,” at which point he put it in drive and floored it, starting a pursuit that reached 100 mph and lasted six minutes before Washington ran off the road, crashed the car and was arrested.

Kywaun Washington is currently an inmate of the Hempstead County jail, and has a court hearing scheduled this week. While I didn’t tell this saga with any “moral of the story” in mind, perhaps I can repeat what I’ve said before: Never run from the Arkansas State Police.

 



 

Category: Arkansas, Crime

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