Pickup crashes into downtown fountain
Texarkana, Texas, driver faces third DWI charge in incident
A Texas-side man is facing a third DWI charge resulting from a crash after midnight Tuesday into the Downtown Post Office fountain, said Shawn Vaughn, Texarkana, Texas, police spokesman.
Terry Harvey, 53, of Texarkana, Texas, will be served with a felony warrant once he is released from a local hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for nonlife-threatening injuries, Vaughn said.
Both Harvey and a male passenger were taken to CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System, Vaughn said. The passenger, a 62-year-old Texas-side man, is listed in critical condition, he added.
“It was an alcohol-related crash,” Vaughn said. “DWI-3rd is a felony, which means that it carries a penalty of more than one year in jail.
“Due to the serious injuries of the passenger, there is a possibility that the charges could be upgraded later to either intoxication assault or intoxication manslaughter,” Vaughn said.
TTPD Officer Darren Jones worked the accident at about 12:48 a.m. Tuesday morning, Vaughn said.
According to a report, Harvey was southbound on State Line Avenue in a 2005 Nissan Frontier pickup when he “failed to negotiate the curve” around the federal building and crashed into the fountain, causing extensive damage.
The fountain has stood at the back of the Downtown Post Office since June 2006.
It was originally dubbed “the Gateway project.”
The fountain and gateway were designed by New York City artist— and former Texarkana resident—Jim DeWoody and began as a graduation project started by Leadership Texarkana’s 2003 graduating class, according to earlier Gazette reports.
The 2003 graduates said they saw their project as a way to honor the region’s past and preserve it for the future.
The class raised about $100,000 to help get the fountain built, with the help of many generous individuals and the support of both cities, Leadership Texarkana’s Executive Director Ruth Ellen Whitt said.
“It required federal permission (and) very extensive planning and building,” Whitt said. “A real jewel for downtown.”
Whitt said both Brian Gosel of Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council and Clay Roberts, Leadership Texarkana 2003 graduate, played integral parts in the fountain’s construction.
Gosel said in an earlier article that when the fountain was finished in the summer of 2006, the project totaled more than $50,000, but considering all the donated time and materials, it was really a $200,000 project.
Horace Shipp, former Texarkana, Ark., mayor, said in an earlier report that the “back door to the Downtown Post Office is now the front door to downtown Texarkana.”
Almost two years ago, in August 2014, a near-collision caused a woman to strike the wall on the side of the fountain.
According to an earlier Gazette report, the Linden, Texas, woman was driving a brand-new Chrysler van and was headed west in the circle around the Downtown Post Office when another vehicle—also headed west—entered her lane.
Texas-side police Sgt. Aaron Brower said in the August 2014 publication that the Linden woman was trying to avoid the other car when she struck the fountain, but there did not appear to be any damage. Neither driver was injured or cited, he said.
Both the federal building and fountain sit directly on a boundary that was created 175 years ago—in 1841.
Many often wonder how police at the Texas- and Arkansas-side departments decide who works an accident or crime scene that happens directly on the state line. Vaughn said it is usually determined by the side of the road where the crash happens or which direction the vehicle was headed.
“Typically, accidents involving southbound vehicles are considered in Texas and northbound vehicles are in Arkansas,” Vaughn said. “Of course there are exceptions to this but usually (that’s) how it works.”
“Anything that happens in the turn lane on State Line often comes down to the interpretation of the officers on scene as to in which state it happened,” he added.
The extent of damage to the fountain was unknown at presstime Tuesday.