Traffic crashes claim two men, Tech coed
Two men died in accidents Monday, and a Russellville woman was killed last week in a crash, according to preliminary Arkansas State Police reports.
Lee Thomas Wise, 46, of Quitman, Texas, suffered fatal injuries when his 2007 Ford pickup left Interstate 30 in Nevada County, entered a ditch and hit a tree Monday morning, officials said. It happened in the eastbound lanes outside Prescott shortly after 8:30 a.m., according to a state police report.
No one else was hurt, and the weather was said to be rainy at the time.
A 23-year-old was killed when his all-terrain vehicle collided with a tractor-trailer near the Arkansas and Louisiana border Monday afternoon, police said.
A 2005 Suzuki ATV was traveling north on the shoulder of U.S. 79 in Columbia County, 1 mile north of the Louisiana state line, according to a state police report.
Around 3:15 p.m., the ATV rider, Jeffrey Hunter of Haynesville, La., tried to make a U-turn when he collided with a 2013 tractor-trailer heading north, the report said. Hunter died at the scene.
The driver of the 18-wheeler was not injured.
A 23-year-old woman was killed in a three-vehicle accident in Pope County last
week, state police said in a report released Tuesday.
The report said the wreck happened around 9:30 a.m. Friday as Hannah Brownlee of Russellville was driving west on Arkansas 326 in Russellville. Brownlee’s Volkswagen Beetle failed to stop at a red light and was struck by a tractor-trailer at U.S. 64, according to authorities.
The collision caused the tractor-trailer to then strike a westbound Ford F-150 on U.S. 64.
Arkansas Tech University named Brownlee as one of its students in a statement Saturday.
“We will keep Hannah’s family and friends in our thoughts during this difficult time,” Arkansas Tech President Robin Bowen said.
The drivers of the tractor-trailer and pickup were not named in the report, and no other injuries were reported.
Travel conditions at the time of the crash were described as clear and dry.
Brownlee’s death was one of at least 220 reported so far this year on an Arkansas road, according to preliminary figures.