As remnants of Tropical Depression Gordon dropped heavy rain across the state, three people died in crashes on state roads Thursday, state police said.
The last wreck occurred shortly before 10 p.m. near the intersection of Southeast Second and Southeast Hayes streets in Hoxie in Lawrence County.
Harry Green, 27, was walking when he was hit by a 2008 Ford Freestyle headed south, a preliminary crash report states. The Hoxie resident suffered fatal injuries.
About 2:30 p.m. on U.S. 167 near Hampton in Calhoun County, a Texas man died and another was injured Thursday after their car slid off the wet highway and hit a tree, according to a separate Arkansas State Police report.
Authorities said that 27-year-old Reginald Kizzee Jr. of Missouri City, Texas, was driving a 2017 Hyundai Sonata south on the highway when he lost control and crossed the centerline.
The Sonata left the road and hit a culvert in a ditch, causing the car to go airborne, the report states. When it landed, it collided with a tree.
Kizzee suffered fatal injuries in the crash, and a passenger — 20-year-old Tyree Smith of Katy, Texas — was listed as hurt.
Earlier Thursday, one driver was killed and another hurt when two pickups collided head-on while one of them was moving to pass other vehicles on an Arkansas highway, authorities said.
It happened about 11:45 a.m. on Arkansas 36, about 1 mile west of Joy in White County.
Police said David Wayne Chennault Jr., 40, of Rosebud was trying to pass several vehicles while traveling west in a 1996 Chevrolet Silverado.
According to a preliminary crash report, the Silverado then struck an eastbound 2008 Dodge Ram head-on.
Chennault suffered fatal injuries. The Ram driver, identified as 68-year-old Dale W. Roberts of Heber Springs, was listed as being hurt, though the report didn't detail the extent of his injuries.
Police said it was cloudy and raining at the time of the crash.
All three counties where the crashes occurred are under a flash flood watch as the remnants of Tropical Depression Gordon move across the state, according to the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
At least 325 people have died in wrecks on Arkansas roads so far this year, according to preliminary figures.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
