Lake City, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Arkansas State Police are now officially reporting that 2 people were killed, 5 injured in a three-vehicle accident East of the St. Francis River bridge on Highway 18 near Lake City Friday night.
According to an Arkansas State Police fatal accident report released Sunday night, Brad King, 48, of Manila was killed as was a minor, age unknown, who was not identified in the report per State Police policy. The minor victim’s mother shared on social media that her son passed away at The Med in Memphis at 6:55pm Sunday.
Kennedy Riggs, 18, of Blytheville, was injured along with four minors whose ages are unknown and were not identified per State Police policy.
Arkansas State Trooper Brian Merrill, who investigated the accident, wrote in his report that King was driving a 2013 Ford East on Highway 18 when he crossed the center turn late and struck a westbound 2023 Volkswagen driven by Riggs head-on. A third vehicle, a 2014 Toyota whose driver was not identified or listed among the injured, struck the Volkswagen in the rear as a secondary impact.
Riggs was injured, the minor who was killed was a passenger in Riggs’ Volkswagen, and four other minor passengers in the Volkswagen were also injured.
The accident happened at about 6:33pm Friday according to Merrill’s report. The accident blocked traffic in both directions on Highway 18 for a considerable amount of time while first responders dealt with the injured and cleared the debris from the accident. The injured were initially taken to Jonesboro hospitals.
Lake City Mayor Cameron Tate had initially told KAIT-TV that four people were killed and ten were injured. K8 later updated the story to say there were conflicting reports of the number of people killed and/or injured.
There have been many social media posts over the weekend asking for prayers and support for the Manila community in the wake of Friday’s accident.