SPRINGDALE -- A Springdale man was arrested after driving into a Fayetteville construction zone and hitting a worker who tried to flag him down.
Charles Ashley White, 43, of 4411 Bogey Drive in Springdale, was arrested Thursday morning near the intersection of Lafayette and Thompson streets in connection with aggravated assault, disorderly conduct and disregarding a traffic control device.
Police were called for a man who had driven a Jeep Wrangler around a construction worker who tried to stop him and blocked a forklift from unloading pallets of sheetrock off a flatbed trailer, according to a preliminary arrest report. When an officer arrived, White was parked under the forklift's boom. He backed away from the forklift and tried to go south on Thompson where another construction worker attempted to wave him off and stood in front of the Jeep. White kept moving and the construction worker, with arms wrapped around the hood of the vehicle and feet off the ground, was carried 30 to 40 feet downhill. The police officer turned on his lights and followed the Jeep. The incident was recorded on the officer's vehicle's camera.
White told police he was trying to explain to the forklift driver how to operate so motorists could drive under him while he worked, according to the preliminary arrest report. He said was trying to find a place to park when he collided with the construction worker. He told police the man had jumped on the hood of his vehicle and he was worried other drivers would hit the man which is why he continued to drive with the man on his hood, according to the report.
The construction worker who was carried downhill on White's Jeep said he would press charges, according to the preliminary arrest report. Police were unable to locate the man who tried to flag White down as he entered the construction area.
White was released from the Washington County Detention Center Thursday afternoon on a $5,000 bond, according to jail records.
NW News on 07/27/2015