4-wheeler fall cited in Arkansas inmate's death while working in cemetery

A Greene County jail prisoner who died March 16 while working in a Paragould cemetery suffered severe head trauma from an apparent fall off a four-wheeled vehicle, authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities found Christopher Daniels, 22, in Linwood Cemetery on Kingshighway and Linwood Drive at 3 p.m. March 16. He had been riding a four-wheeler while on work duty as an inmate, according to Greene County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Robert Thompson III of Paragould.

Daniels was arrested by Paragould police on a parole violation and was being held at the Greene County jail in Paragould. He was working as a trusty at the cemetery, which is owned by the city.

An autopsy performed at the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock revealed that Daniels suffered head injuries from an accident, Thompson said.

"There was no evidence of any criminal misconduct," Thompson said. "I don't know the details of the circumstances. He had an accident on a four-wheeler and received traumatic head injuries."

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The Arkansas State Police also investigated the death but found no evidence that Daniels' death was anything other than an accident.

City prisoners often clean city-owned property, Thompson said.

The city acquired the 50-acre cemetery in 1885. Former Arkansas Gov. Marion Futrell and Frank Nash, one of the FBI's Most Wanted criminals in the 1930s, are buried there.

Paragould Police Chief Todd Stovall did not return telephone messages Tuesday.

A detective in the Paragould Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division referred calls to the state police, saying it was "their investigation."

Greene County Sheriff David Carter said it was a common practice for deputies to transport city prisoners to the cemetery for work detail.

County prisoners do not work at the cemetery, Carter said.

"Very seldom do we take our prisoners out," the sheriff said. "We keep them on the property where they wash [deputies'] cars and clean up around here."

Carter said he recalled Daniels being an inmate at his jail, but he did not interact with Daniels.

Thompson said the investigation into Daniels' death was conducted because he was a prisoner and because his death occurred on city property.

"The state police saw no evidence of any criminal misconduct," he said. "That completes our aspect of this case."

State Desk on 04/05/2017

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