Fort Smith woman dies in car crash

Two people have died in separate accidents on Arkansas roads.

A 63-year-old Fort Smith woman was killed Friday in a three-vehicle crash on U.S. 71, authorities said.

It happened about 11:15 a.m. when a Toyota Tacoma that was southbound on the highway “attempted to stop” for a red light at Brooken Hill Drive in Fort Smith, according to an Arkansas State Police report.

The Tacoma struck an eastbound Chevrolet Cruze that was moving through the intersection, police said. The collision propelled the Cruze into a utility pole and then into a stopped Hyundai Sonata, the report said. The driver of the Cruze, Janet Kessler, suffered fatal injuries. No one else was listed on the report as being hurt, and the report didn’t name the Tacoma’s driver.

A 30-year-old Arkansas man died Saturday afternoon when his car overturned in a crash, partially ejecting him and pinning him underneath his vehicle, authorities said.

About 12:45 p.m., Day Watson of Mountain Pine was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt west on Cedarglade Road near Turkey Trot Lane northwest of Hot Springs in Garland County, according to an Arkansas State Police report.

The Garland County sheriff’s office identified the victim in a news release as Gabriel Day Watson. That agency received a call Saturday afternoon in reference to a possible abandoned vehicle and a suspicious person walking around a property in the 1600 block of Cedarglade Road.

A deputy observed a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle pulling out of a driveway at a “high rate of speed,” the sheriff’s office said.

Authorities say Watson lost control of the car while attempting to pass another vehicle, causing it to leave the north side of the road and hit a culvert. The vehicle overturned and partially ejected him.