Worker at Arkansas car dealership accused of taking BMW, crashing it into newspaper building; 1 hurt

An El Dorado man is accused of stealing a car from his employer and seriously injuring a pedestrian shortly after crashing into the El Dorado News-Times building last month.

Kenneth M. Parker, 24, faces charges of first-degree battery, theft of property and first-degree criminal mischief. Bail was set at $10,000.

Parker was also cited on charges of driving while intoxicated and careless and prohibited operations, police said.

Officers responded just before 2 a.m. Nov. 25 to a report of an accident at the News-Times building at 111 N. Madison Ave.

Police said Parker was traveling west on East Main Street when he veered off the road and drove onto the loading dock on the east side of the office building.

Parker slammed into the building but continued north along the loading dock, where he struck 35-year-old Cody Odom, police said. Odom told investigators he was walking along Main Street at the time.

Odom sustained “incapacitating” injuries in the accident and was transported to Medical Center of South Arkansas for treatment, police said.

The impact caused structural damage to the exterior and interior of the building.

Police said Parker was driving a white, 2014 BMW owned by Billy Wood Honda, 1909 W. Hillsboro. The car was totaled in the crash.

The chief executive officer reported the next day that Parker, a sales representative for the dealership at the time, took the BMW without authorization, authorities said.

An employee told police she sent Parker a text message inquiring about the BMW, and he responded by saying “that he was in the hospital and he had messed up,” police said.

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