SCOTT - A 6-year-old girl is the sole survivor of a Friday automobile crash that killed three, including an England man and his teenage daughter, about three miles south of Scott.
Four people were traveling northbound on Arkansas 161 in a blue GMC Jimmy when the sport utility vehicle veered off the road to the right, overcorrected and spun around after driving back to the left across the southbound lane, according to a preliminary Arkansas State Police fatality accident report. The SUV then crashed into a grove separating the roadway from Old River Lake, the report states.
A fisherman in a nearby boat heard the crash and called police about 11:30 a.m. Friday, state police spokesman Bill Sadler said.
More than 20 emergency responders from several agencies arrived shortly afterward and found 6-year-old Trinity Craid alive. She was airlifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, according to Pulaski County Coroner Gerone Hobbs, who didn’t know the extent of her injuries. Craid wasn’t listed asa patient at the hospital late Friday.
Elizabeth Noe, 35; James Freeman, 35, of England; and his 16-year-old daughter Hannah Freeman were dead when paramedics and others arrived, Hobbs said. Hannah’s leg had been amputated by an object in the crash, Hobbs said.
The SUV, which was driven by Freeman, hit a tree on the driver’s side door. The front left tire was flat, the back glass and windows broken and most of the car bent from the impact.
Just as the damaged vehicle was pulled onto the roadway from the woods after 1 p.m., a young woman ran to the border of the scene, stopping at a state trooper’s car. She identified herself as having the last name Freeman. She buried her face in her hands and started to cry. An older woman followed and embraced the younger woman.
Within 15 minutes, a man in a black truck arrived and the two women got inside. Later, four more women came up to the truck. None walked closer to the scene, where at least one body was still lying on the ground, yet to be put in a yellow body bag.
State police blocked off the highway in both directions for hours while they responded to the wreck. The vehicle’s roof was cut off to get to the victims. Crews worked for at least an hour pulling bodies out of the vehicle, before towing it away.
The wreck occurred across from Jim Alexander’s soybean field. He, hiswife, Susan, and at least six farmhands were at the scene watching emergency workers for a while.
Alexander’s sons told him the wreck was blocking the roadway, he said, and he camedown to see what was going on.
“I’m wondering if it’s anyone I know,” he said. “You know, it’s a small, tightknit community around here.”
Other people blockedfrom traveling the highway waited for the roadway to be cleared and asked questions about the type of vehicle, checking to see if the injured and dead were their friends or relatives.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 05/25/2013