Device in roadway cues police probe
The North Little Rock Police Department and Little Rock Fire Department are investigating a “suspicious device” found Wednesday morning at Burns Park in North Little Rock, police spokesman Shana Cobbs said in a news release.
The Little Rock Fire Department’s explosive ordnance disposal unit responded about 10:13 a.m. to the park at 4000 Joe Poch Road, where the device had been found at the end of Catfish Drive by a park ranger.
Investigators with the Fire Department were working to determine the “origin and chemical makeup” of the device, Cobbs said.
The device was not concealed in a bag or package, according to Fire Department Capt. Jason Weaver.
He described the device as a “small container” that was found in an unoccupied area where there was no “live threat.”
“With a situation like that,” he said, “I’d be speculating. As far back in the park as it was, an isolated area, it’d be more like kids or somebody lighting something off to see the effects … could be kids or someone experimenting to see what’s effective and what works.”
The ranger who found the device had patrolled the area earlier in the morning, Weaver said, and found the device while making a second pass.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEHead-on collision kills motorist, 71
A man died after a head-on collision Sunday in Jefferson County, the Arkansas State Police reported Wednesday.
Lloyd Baker, 71, was driving his Chevrolet Trailblazer south on U.S.
63 about 12:15 p.m. Sunday when he crossed the centerline and struck a Ford truck traveling in the opposite direction. Baker was taken to Jefferson Regional Medical Center, where he died Tuesday.
The other driver, 47-year-old Ronnie Payne, was also hospitalized at Jefferson Regional. His condition was unknown Wednesday.
Conditions were rainy and wet during the crash, state police reported.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Kin’s UAMS suit rejected by panel
The state Claims Commission on Thursday threw out a $3.5 million claim against the UAMSMedical Center that was filed by the family of a patient who died on the campus.
Commission Director Norman Hodges said the panel granted the hospital’s motion for directed verdict after two hours of testimony.
“The essence of it was that there was no proof whatsoever put on of liability on the part of [the hospital],” Hodges said.
The family of Davis Donald Young Jr. filed the lawsuit Aug. 20, after he drowned in a therapy pool at the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.
Young, who had several health problems, including hypertension, high cholesterol and schizophrenia, was prescribed exercises at the therapy pool, even though he was unable to swim, his family stated in the commission filings.
Young, 58, was found at the bottom of the pool June 21, 2012, and a coroner’s report determined he had drowned, according to commission filings.
But the hospital argued that signs were posted that no lifeguard was on duty at the pool and that Young had signed a use agreement that waived the hospital’s liability.
“The risks associated with a swimming pool were open and obvious and Mr. Young was not entitled to a heightened duty of care,” Sherri Robinson, associate general counsel for UAMS, wrote in the hospital’s response.
The commission is expected to issue a written opinion in the coming weeks.
- ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEWoman, child die in running vehicle
JENKS, Okla. - Police in a Tulsa suburb said they are investigating an apparent murder-suicide involving a woman and her 3-year-old daughter.
Jenks Police Chief Cameron Arthur said the child’s father called authorities Wednesday afternoon to report that he had discovered the woman and their daughter unresponsive inside a running car after forcing his way into the garage.
The Tulsa World reported their 5-year-old son was in a corner of the garage, and the father was able to get him safely outside.
Arthur said the man - who had firefighter and paramedic experience - tried unsuccessfully to revive his daughter.
Police said the father told police he went to the home after discovering that the children weren’t at school for him to pick up.
- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 03/07/2014