17-year-old dies after shooting self
JONESBORO - A 17-year-old boy died after shooting himself while looking at a handgun in the parking lot of a Jonesboro restaurant Wednesday evening, police said Thursday.
The boy, whom police did not name because he was a minor, shot himself at Chick-fil-A at the Turtle Creek mall on Stadium Drive about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, police spokesman Sgt. Doug Formon said.
According to a police report, the boy was part of a Walnut Street Baptist Church youth group that went to the restaurant after a meeting.
The 17-year-old got in the back seat of another member’s truck at the restaurant and asked to see a .357-caliber handgun owned by the member’s grandfather that was kept in a holster in the truck, officer Keith Baggett said in his report.
A witness inside the truck said the boy took the gun out of the holster, placed it under his chin and pulled the trigger.
There was one round inside the gun’s chamber, Formon said.
Medical personnel took the boy to St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in Jonesboro, where he died.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEMan, 41, dies after
motorcycle crash
A Scott man died early Thursday after running a motorcycle into a mailbox in North Little Rock the day before, according to police.
Just before 3:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Rodney Rhoden, 41, was driving a 2005 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle on Lindenhurst Drive just west of Whitby Lane when he began negotiating a curve, according to the crash report.
Rhoden then ran into a mailbox at 504 Lindenhurst Drive and was thrown from the motorcycle, according to the report.
He was taken to UAMS Medical Center in Little Rock, where he died nearly 10 hours later, North Little Rock police said.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEBody identified as missing fair worker
POCAHONTAS - A body found in Pocahontas is that of a missing carnival worker, police said.
Pocahontas Police Chief Cecil Tackett said Thursday the body was identified as that of Mathew St. Amant, 26, of Church Point, La.
The chief says the state Crime Laboratory made the identification through fingerprints.
Jonesboro television station KAIT reported that St. Amant was reported missing by a relative and that his fair group also hadn’t seen him for a time.
The body was found in a neighborhood in Pocahontas, and people living there said they didn’t hear or see anything suspicious.
The investigation is continuing.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSInnocent pleaded in bicyclist’s death
AUGUSTA - A 21-yearold man accused of driving into a group of bicyclists traveling through Arkansas on a cross-country trip - killing one and injuring others - has pleaded innocent.
Prosecutor John Bell said Teagan Ross Martin of Newport pleaded innocent Thursday to all charges.
Martin faces a negligent homicide charge, one count of careless and prohibited driving, and 13 counts related to overtaking a bicycle.
Martin’s lawyers didn’t respond to a phone message Thursday.
Merritt Levitan, 18, of Milton, Mass., died from her injuries after the July 2 crash near McCrory.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS2 West Nile cases confirmed in Tulsa
TULSA - Tulsa County health officials said the first two cases of West Nile virus in humans in the county for this year have been confirmed.
The county Health Department confirmed the cases Thursday.
Statewide, the Oklahoma State Department of Health has reported 22 cases of West Nile virus in 2013, including one person who has died. Ten of the cases and the death have been in Oklahoma County.
The virus is spread through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, headache, dizziness and muscle weakness. Long-lasting complications can include difficulty concentrating, migraine headaches, extreme muscle weakness and tremors, and paralysis.
A record 176 cases were recorded last year with 15 resulting in death.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESSAsbestos exposure draws worker suit
JOPLIN, Mo. - An employee of Empire District Electric Co.
alleges in a lawsuit that the utility exposed its employees to asbestos and other hazardous materials at a plant in southeast Missouri.
The lawsuit was filed last week in Jasper County Circuit Court by Les Rider of Diamond. It seeks class-action status for employees who worked at the utility’s Riverton plant.
The lawsuit alleges that asbestos is peeling and flaking throughout the Riverton plant. It says Rider and other employees were told to get rid of various scrap materials in a way that environmental oversight employees would not find them, and that work exposed workers to asbestos fibers.
Amy Bass, spokesman for Empire, told the Joplin Globe that the company does not comment on pending litigation.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 10 on 09/21/2013