Two hit-run victims among road deaths

LITTLE ROCK — At least two people died in hit-andrun accidents last weekend.

Seven others — including a child — died in other recent accidents, according to the Arkansas State Police.

In one of the hit-and-run accidents, a caller notified authorities around 8:25 a.m. June 27 of a body lying next to U.S. 79 near North Leslie Street in Stuttgart.

Officers at the scene said it looked as though a vehicle hit the pedestrian, identified as Nelson Sims, 56, of Stuttgart, and drove away, the report stated.

A coroner pronounced Sims dead at the scene.

The report didn’t provide an estimated time for the crash, and no vehicle description is listed.

In the other hit-and-run, bicyclist Bobby Wilkins, 53, of Little Rock was killed when he was hit by a vehicle traveling south at 4600 S. University Ave. about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, according to a report.

The vehicle hitting Wilkins, who was riding his bicycle on the inside lane, was a Jeep Wrangler, year unknown, according to the report. The driver hasn’t been identified and no arrest has been made as of Tuesday, according to the state police.

The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office started an investigation Tuesday afternoon in a fatal accident in which a vehicle ran into a tree, according to spokesman Mitch McCoy.

Deputies responded at the 4700 block of Woodson Lateral Road just before 3 p.m. and found the vehicle on fire with the driver still inside, McCoy said. By the time firefighters arrived, the vehicle was “engulfed in flames,” according to McCoy. He said authorities didn’t pull the victim from the vehicle because of the flames.

The victim, whose name hasn’t been released as of Tuesday evening, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 20-year-old man from Swifton driving a 2019 Honda traveling west on Pageant Island Road in the Independence County town of Magness died when his vehicle slid off the road and ended up in a ditch about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

The vehicle overturned. The driver, Jaxson Bailey Steele, was thrown out and landed on the west side of the ditch. The weather was cloudy and the road was dry at the time of the accident, according to a state police report.

A 22-year-old man and a young driver died in a De Queen crash Sunday morning, the state police said.

They were in a Chevrolet Silverado going south on Arkansas 41 around 6 a.m. The driver of the vehicle crossed the centerline and hit a northbound Honda Civic, according to a report. The driver and passenger Bernard Edwards III of Nashville in southwest Arkansas died on impact in the truck. The other driver, Quentin Witherspoon, 22, of Fulton was injured and taken to a hospital in Texarkana, police said.

A Little Rock man died when his vehicle veered off the road and hit a concrete barrier, police said. No others were injured. Shawnal Mayweather, 46, was driving west on Ninth Street when the crash occurred about 12:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a preliminary report. Medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

His car was found at 1421 E. Ninth St., police said.

A 75-year-old man died in an accident on U.S. 71 in southwest Arkansas about 2:30 p.m. on Monday, according to a state police report.

Santos Rodriguez of Fouke was driving a 2017 Nissan Sentra in the unincorporated community of Doddridge in the southern part of Miller County on Monday when his vehicle hit the rear of a 2018 Freightliner truck. The truck driver, who stopped his rig because of a traffic accident, had left his vehicle to offer aid when the second accident happened, according to a crash summary. His name wasn’t released Tuesday.

The report indicated clear weather conditions and a dry road.

One man died and another man was injured in a one-vehicle accident about 8:20 p.m. Monday in Johnson County.

Clifton Brockett, 38, of Altus was a passenger in a 2005 Chevrolet 1500 traveling north on Johnson County 3198. The vehicle, rounding a curve, veered off the road on the left side and overturned. Both occupants were trapped in the vehicle. The Johnson County coroner pronounced Brockett dead about an hour later.

The driver, Michael Brockett, 45, of Ozark was injured.

The weather was clear and the road was dry at the time of the accident, state police said.