Driver flees after van hits, kills man on LR sidewalk

A 29-year-old Little Rock man on a sidewalk was killed Friday when he was hit by a van, which then fled the scene, police said.

ADVERTISEMENT

More headlines

Sgt. Cassandra Davis, spokesman for the Little Rock Police Department, said officers responded to the accident at the Rodney Parham and Old Forge Road about 12:09 p.m. Witnesses told police Ian Canham was walking west on the sidewalk from the intersection when he was hit by a white van with green lettering.

Witnesses said the white van had been traveling south on Old Forge and then drove through the parking lot of a Shell gas station to try to go west on Rodney Parham, Davis said in a news release. The driver fled after hitting Canham.

The driver of the van is described as a white "heavy set" man. Davis said Friday night that police had found the van and were processing it for evidence. Police had a person of interest in the case, but Davis said that person had not been arrested.

Catherine Canham, Ian Canham's mother, said her son had been walking home from Game X Change, where he had bought his brother a birthday present. A seizure disorder and brain damage prevented Ian Canham from driving, so he walked everywhere, his mother said.

That seizure disorder also prevented Ian Canham from working. He had mowed lawns for a family friend to get the money for his brother's birthday present and was thrilled he had been able to mow in straight lines for the first time, Catherine Canham said.

"He was so happy about going to get this present for his brother," she said Friday night.

Ian Canham, a 2004 graduate of Central High School, was a goofball, his mother said. He loved the television series Gilligan's Island so much that people often called him Gilligan.

He also loved watching Power Rangers and The Andy Griffith Show, in addition to playing World of Warcraft and trying out new software on computers.

He also liked telling jokes, so almost every week he went to Hibernia Irish Tavern in west Little Rock to do stand-up comedy -- although he got most of his jokes from the Internet.

"We're not saying he was the best," Catherine Canham said. "But he got up there and told jokes."

Catherine Canham is British, so Ian Canham would look up British jokes and try to tell them to his mother. Catherine Canham said they didn't quite land right because of her son's American accent.

He hadn't been back to the tavern in recent weeks though. His mother said people would sometimes buy her son a beer, and he felt bad that he didn't have the money to return the favor.

On Friday night, Catherine Canham said one thing was bringing her comfort: knowing Ian was now with his father, who died of cancer last year.

"My only thing keeping me calmer is that he's with his dad now," Catherine Canham said. "He just wanted to see dad one more time. He finally got to see his dad."

Metro on 08/29/2015

Upcoming Events