A motorcyclist who died in a collision with an Arkansas State Police cruiser is among five people who were killed in four wrecks on the state’s roads Sunday and Monday, according to preliminary fatality reports from the Arkansas State Police.
Michael Owens, 63, of Bates-ville was killed around 3:55 p.m. Monday when he turned the motorcycle he was riding left onto U.S. 167 from Pfeiffer Road in rural Independence County and went into the path of a state police car, according to a report.
State police Cpl. Brandon Trewyn, 36, of Newport drove off the roadway in an attempt to avoid a collision, but the front of the police car made contact with the motorcycle, the report says.
State police spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said Trewyn, who was taken to a hospital after the crash and released on Tuesday, had his lights and sirens on at the time.
A trooper investigating the wreck reported that the weather was cloudy and the road was dry.
Shundrekia Hill, 44, and passenger Jerald Jones, 35, of Texarkana were killed around 10:15 p.m. Sunday when Hill lost control of a vehicle while attempting to pass in the left lane of Interstate 30 westbound near mile marker 23 outside Hope, a report states.
The front of the vehicle collided with the driver side of a second vehicle’s trailer and became “hung under the trailer,” the report states. A third vehicle collided with the passenger side of Hill’s vehicle, the report says. A minor who was a passenger in one of the vehicles was also hurt in the wreck, the report says.
At the time of the crash, the interstate was “heavily saturated due to rain,” the report states.
Also on Sunday, Glen E. Cook, 59, of Biggers was killed around 2:45 p.m. when the vehicle he was riding in crashed in Randolph County, according to a report.
The driver of the 2010 Lincoln MKZ, who was not identified in the report, overcorrected after traveling off the left side of Biggers-Reyno Road into the ditch, lost control and traveled off the right side of the road, the report says.
The vehicle struck a ditch embankment and overturned on the passenger side, the report says.
A trooper investigating the crash reported that the weather was clear and the road was dry at the time.
Ike Evans, 70, of Hindsville died around noon Monday when the 2013 Ford he was driving north on Arkansas 45 in rural Madison County left the road, striking a fence and a tree, according to a report.
A trooper investigating the crash reported that the weather was clear and the road was dry.