HOT SPRINGS -- Police have released the identities of two people who were killed last week when their car was struck by what authorities said was a stolen vehicle in the 2100 block of Albert Pike.
George Luster, 49, and Kathaline Luster, 51, both of Hot Springs, were killed when their vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by Gystin Michael Parker, 19, of Riverdale, Ga., police said.
Parker is charged with felony counts of theft by receiving more than $5,000 and fleeing in a vehicle, each punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He is scheduled to appear Sept. 25 in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the theft and fleeing charges, shortly after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday a woman reported that her white 2012 Hyundai Sonata had been stolen.
At around 11:21 a.m., an officer spotted the car and followed it. Police began a traffic stop on Hicks Circle at 11:25 a.m., the affidavit said. As the officers walked toward the vehicle, the driver, later identified as Parker, sped away.
The affidavit said Parker was "driving at an extremely high rate of speed in heavy traffic, passing cars on the double yellow line." The officers lost sight of the vehicle.
About three minutes later, an officer located the Sonata crashed in the 2100 block of Albert Pike Road. Police said Parker's car struck the Lusters' green 2002 Toyota Corolla, which was stopped on Gilchrist Street at a stop sign where the roadway intersects Albert Pike.
Parker's vehicle overturned and came to rest upside down about 200 feet from where he left the roadway. The Corolla came to rest in a ditch approximately 130 feet from where it was struck. The Lusters were pronounced dead at the scene by Garland County Coroner Stuart Smedley.
State Desk on 09/18/2018