FAYETTEVILLE -- A 20-year-old student died Tuesday after a late-night scooter accident last week on the University of Arkansas campus.
Cole Pangburn died after suffering a head injury in a one-vehicle crash that took place a few minutes after midnight early Friday, said Capt. Gary Crain with university police. He said it was the first fatality to result from an on-campus scooter accident.
Pangburn was not wearing a helmet, Crain said.
By state law, anyone younger than 21 must wear a helmet when riding a scooter or motorcycle. Few students wear them, even though scooters have become popular on the hilly Fayetteville campus. UA issued 1,331 scooter parking permits in the 12-month period ending June 30.
Both city and university police said it would be improper to pull over adult riders not wearing a helmet simply because they might be younger than 21.
"That is not probable cause for a stop right there, unless you recognize the subject or you know for a fact that the person is under 21," said Sgt. Craig Stout with the Fayetteville Police Department.
Last year, the city issued 12 no-helmet citations to riders younger than 21.
An online petition asking for helmets to be required on the UA campus had amassed more than 2,500 signatures as of Tuesday evening. The petition featured a photograph of Pangburn, who was a 2014 graduate of Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, according to Pulaski Academy President Matt Walsh.
"It's a vast amount of signatures," said Connor Flocks, president of UA's Associated Student Government. "I think that speaks to the legacy [Pangburn] had, that not even 24 hours after his passing, so many students have come together for one cause."
The petition stated that the signatures would be presented to the student government. Flocks said he has scheduled a meeting this week with the university's director of police to discuss the proposed helmet requirement.
"We need to figure out the logistics of how exactly something like that would be implemented," Flocks said, noting the existing state law and other questions regarding jurisdiction. In 1997, the state Legislature repealed a mandatory helmet law, except for riders younger than 21.
Pangburn studied business management, university spokesman Steve Voorhies said. He also was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity, according to numerous posts to social media mourning his death.
Near a row of scooters in a campus parking lot by UA's engineering building, Jacob Askey, 19, said he is also a Sigma Nu fraternity member and knew Pangburn as a "super nice, outgoing guy" who was devoted to the fraternity.
Askey prepared to drive away without a helmet, but he said the accident and petition could lead to a change.
"People think it's like uncool to wear a helmet or whatever. But if they made it a law, if everyone wore helmets, people would wear helmets," Askey said, adding that he is considering purchasing a helmet after Pangburn's accident.
Crain said police had little information about what may have caused the accident, despite having a police officer as a witness.
A patrol officer driving the opposite direction as Pangburn saw his scooter appear to "wobble" before the accident, which took place as Pangburn was traveling south on Razorback Road near Leroy Pond Drive.
The road is straight and conditions were dry, Crain said.
"We don't really have any contributing factor other than the motor scooter going down," Crain said.
Crain said if riders are spotted without required eye protection or violating other traffic laws, police can issue an additional citation for not wearing a helmet if the rider is younger than 21, Crain said.
Leah Ward, a 20-year-old junior, said she has ridden a scooter on campus for more than two years. The convenience of a scooter compared to a car becomes evident when it's time to park, she said.
"It's a lot cheaper to buy a scooter parking pass," Ward said.
Ward said she did not know it was against the law to ride a scooter without a helmet for people younger than 21.
"I don't wear a helmet because they're clunky, they're hard to carry around," Ward said.
Austin Roark, a 20-year-old junior, said he feels safe riding around campus on his scooter, even though he does not wear a helmet. However, when told of the petition, he called it a good idea.
"Whenever I ride mine, I try to be careful," Roark said. However, "it is really easy to get careless with them and have accidents."
Another serious scooter accident took place just south of campus Monday afternoon, Stout said. An unidentified man was thrown from a scooter after being struck by a car about 3 p.m., Stout said. The unconscious man was taken by ambulance to Washington Regional Medical Center.
Stout said police believe the scooter operator ran a stop sign at the intersection of West Center Street and University Avenue, about two blocks east of campus apartments. Police believe the scooter had been stolen and the man was found without identification, Stout said.
Metro on 09/07/2016