Crashes on state roadways kill four people, injure at least two others.

Police ID motorcyclist who died, hunt driver who fled

At least four people have died since Friday because of crashes on state roadways, according to Arkansas State Police. Also, authorities identified a man who was previously reported killed in a Little Rock crash.

Two Arkansas men were killed in a two-car collision in Hempstead County on Friday night, state police said.

The crash happened shortly after 7:30 p.m. on U.S. 278 in Ozan when an eastbound Mazda 3 veered out of control and crossed into the westbound lanes, striking a Nissan Altima, according to a state police report. Both cars left the highway.

The Mazda driver, 27-yearold Edward Fizer of Nashville, died at a hospital in Hot Springs about two hours after the crash, police wrote. A passenger in the Nissan, 73-year-old Jeff White of Hope, reportedly died at the scene.

The Nissan’s driver, 47-yearold Ramona Bailey of Texarkana, and a second passenger in that car, 76-year-old Dorothy Dixon of Hope, were listed as being hurt. The report didn’t specify the extent of their injuries.

Police also didn’t indicate what caused the Mazda to veer out of control.

Also Friday, a 75-year-old Malvern woman died after the car she was driving traveled off a state highway and hit a tree, police said.

Shortly after 3:15 p.m., a Lincoln Continental driven by Donna Hart ran off Arkansas 51 near Heights Road in Magnet Cove, according to a state police report.

The car reportedly then crashed into a tree. Hart was taken to a Hot Springs hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

No one else was listed as being

hurt, and the report didn’t specify what caused the Lincoln to leave the roadway.

A Bella Vista man was pronounced dead Saturday, five days after he suffered injuries in a rollover crash in Northwest Arkansas, authorities said.

The single-vehicle crash happened shortly after 4:30 p.m. June 25 near Arkansas 340 and Buckstone Drive in the Benton County town of Bella Vista, according to a preliminary state police report.

State police said a westbound Ford F-150 driven by 64-yearold Jeffrey Hilbun traveled off the highway. The pickup then rolled over “multiple times” before coming to a rest, authorities said.

According to the report, Hilbun was taken to Mercy Bella Vista and later Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mo.

Hilbun was pronounced dead at the Missouri hospital at 9:38 a.m. Saturday, according to Lt. Byron Stival of the Bella Vista Police Department.

The weather was clear and roads were dry at the time of all three crashes, state police reported.

Authorities also have identified the Little Rock man who was killed in a head-on crash early Saturday.

Nolan McCuien, 34, was driving a motorcycle that collided with a GMC Yukon in the 3300 block of Mabelvale Pike, Little Rock police spokesman Steve Moore previously said.

The driver of the Yukon, which left the roadway and turned over in a ditch, fled the scene on foot, Moore said. Police were still searching late Tuesday for that driver.