A boy died and four people he was riding with were injured after their SUV crashed into a guardrail Saturday morning on U.S. Highway 65 in Jefferson County, state police said.
According to an Arkansas State Police crash report, Phillip Cummins, 28, was driving a 2006 Dodge Durango north on U.S. 65 at 6:23 a.m. near the highway’s overpass of Cottondale Road. It was wet and raining, and the car went off the road and hit the guardrail.
Police said a passenger in the Durango was ejected and hit by a passing car — a northbound 2015 Nissan Altima.
[FATAL WRECKS: Complete coverage of deadly accidents of Arkansas roadways]
A boy died in the crash, but it’s not clear if he was the one thrown from the vehicle. Cummins, 30-year-old Matina Cummins, a girl and another boy were all hurt in the crash and taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center. Everyone involved in the crash lives in Pine Bluff.
Arkansas law prohibits police from identifying minors in crash reports.
The death marked the 502nd of the year on state roads, according to preliminary figures.