Arkansas police say Brandon Clarke had kratom in high-speed stop

Bodycam footage shows Brandon Clarke being pulled over in Cross County, Arkansas, after the white Corvette he was driving traveled more than 100 mph and did not stop until a second deputy joined the pursuit. The stop happened on April 1, about six weeks before Clarke, 29, was found dead in Los Angeles on May 11.

Cross County Sheriff David West said Clarke was driving westbound on Highway 64 East near Parkin when deputies tried to stop him. Police records and the arrest affidavit show the search that followed turned up more than 230 grams of kratom in the car, including several large clear capsules containing a green powdery substance and a blue duffel bag in the passenger seat. Deputies also found a THC vape pen with a brown liquid that tested positive for marijuana.

Clarke was booked by the Cross County Sheriff’s Office on charges of trafficking a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, fleeing in a vehicle exceeding the speed limit and improper passing. The filing tied the traffic stop to the contraband found in the vehicle, but it did not answer what role, if any, the kratom played in Clarke’s death in California.

Arkansas classifies kratom as a Schedule I controlled substance, while it was legal in neighboring Tennessee at the time Clarke played for the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Associated Press documented 1,036 deaths from 2012 to 2021 after people were subdued by police using physical force or weapons intended to be less lethal than firearms.