Two pedestrians were injured Tuesday after being hit by a pickup in Craighead Forest Park, a spokesman for the Jonesboro Police Department said.
A man and a woman were sitting under a pavilion near the Craighead Forest Lake levee when the driver of a Ram 1500 sped over a hill at 70 mph and crashed into the pavilion, Jonesboro Parks Director Wixson Huffstetler said.
Bobby Nutt, 34, of Jonesboro told police that he and his girlfriend, Ashley Ahle, 29, of Pocahontas, had traveled to the park in the Ram to talk through some relationship problems they had been having.
Nutt said that when their discussion turned into an argument near a boat dock, he got out of the truck.
Ahle, who was driving the pickup, then sped away toward the park entrance, drove through the pavilion and struck a tree head-on, Huffstetler said.
The boyfriend told police that he could hear the pickup's tires squalling as it went over a hill, shortly before hearing a "loud boom."
Police responded about 1:30 p.m., and a helicopter was called 30 minutes later to transport one of two injured pedestrians and Ahle for medical attention, spokesman Paul Holmes said.
At the pavilion, pedestrian Heather Jones, 40, of Jonesboro was found lying on the ground with severe lacerations to one of her legs. She and Ahles, who was conscious but unresponsive, were flown to a hospital in Memphis, police said.
The second pedestrian struck, Rodney Feezor, 40, of Jonesboro, was transported to St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro, according to authorities.
Check back with Arkansas Online for updates on this developing story.