Jake Lloyd, the child actor who played Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, was arrested last week after a high speed chase with police in South Carolina.
Lloyd, 26, was arrested after he reportedly refused to stop after police signaled for him to stop. According to a video posted on TMZ, Lloyd was signaled by a blue flashing police car before speeding off, eventually hitting a top speed of 117 mph. In the video, Lloyd, who was in a Nissan, could be seen swerving in and out of the road in the direction of oncoming traffic, going off the highway, rushing past people on the shoulder and tossing up large clouds of dust in his wake.
The dash cam that captured Lloyd’s attempted escape was mounted to the back of the Colleton County Sheriff’s patrol car. Three other units were involved in the chase.
The high speed chase finally came to a halt when Lloyd turned right, veered off the road and slammed into a tree. Lloyd was arrested and charged with reckless driving, driving without a license, failure to stop and resisting arrest.
No innocent persons were injured during the chase.
Lloyd has not given a statement since his arrest last week as he is still in custody. According to NBC News, the former child star was being held on a $10,700 bail at the Colleton County Detention Center.
Colleton County Sheriff Sgt. Kyle Strickland told NBC that the reason Lloyd attempted to evade the police is unclear as he was neither drunk nor intoxicated and no drugs were found in his car.
Lloyd famously starred in the first episode of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace back in the 1990s. He also starred in other films such as Jingle All the Way back in 1996 and Madison in 2005, a role he played alongside Arnold Schwarzenneger.
Why do you think Anakin Skywalker was trying to evade the authorities?
