A Bastrop man arrested for five counts of attempted manslaughter and unauthorized use of a movable is being held without bond after a hearing Tuesday morning.

Chris Halford, 16936 Old Bonita Road, was arrested around 8:30 p.m. Oct. 7 after hitting, either accidentally or intentionally, a car containing his wife and three children, ages 11, 8 and 7, while driving a truck he did not have permission to operate. A passenger, who was related to the truck’s owner was in the passenger seat of the truck.

His wife of nine years, Roxanne Halford, testified at the hearing. She stated that she didn’t think Halford was trying to hurt anyone, merely to keep her.

Roxanne Halford testified that she had left him at a friend’s house while she packed her belongings in order to separate. She spoke to him on the phone, during the conversation he and Megan Goodson, the truck’s driver at the time, began pursuit of her vehicle. Roxanne Halford said he told Goodson to let him drive when she did not drive fast enough to catch up.

“He catches me, goes to go around me,” Roxanne Halford said. “He came in on top of me, but he didn’t try to ram me.”

Lee Cleveland, an Investigator with the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office, said he took statements from both Chris and Roxanne Halfod, Megan Goodson, and Goodson’s mother, the truck’s owner, Betty Goodson. Immediately following the event, all accounts and testimonies matched. They all stated: there was a high speed chase, Chris Halford hit the car his wife was driving with the truck, after impact, he made a U-turn in the road and left her alone.

Assistant District Attorney Dion Young asked Roxanne Halford to read a handwritten statement she gave willingly within a few days of the incident. In the statement, she said her husband tried to run her off the road.

Chris Halford’s attorney for the hearing, Roland Charles, asked Roxanne Halford if she was angry and distressed at the time of the hearing; she said she was. During further questioning, she also said that she is not scared of her husband, he is only violent when he drinks.

Young pointed out that Chris Halford has been reported for domestic abuse three times between 2005 and 2006, and he pled guilty for the last count which included property damages.

Cleveland stated that he judged his assessment of the situation based on the damaged driver’s side mirror and scratches on the car Roxanne Halford was driving. Charles asked about dents in the car; there were none.

Charles asked Cleveland to give an estimate of how much time and how many miles were covered by the chase. Cleveland said Roxanne Halford testified to driving approximately 80 miles per hour, and his estimate would assume approximately two miles covered in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Charles asked Cleveland if that was enough time to determine whether or not someone way trying to kill another person; Cleveland said yes.

“He showed no regard whatsoever for his own children,” Young said. “He’s a danger to the community, his wife and his three children.”

Fourth District Court Judge Marcus Clark denied bail pending a trial. Clark noted that he thought Roxanne Halford “shaded her testimony” in order to protect her spouse and his danger to his family.

“We know of the ones where he was arrested, but we don’t know about the others.” Clark said. “It only take a tenth of a second to us a dangerous weapon like a gun or a car.”