A 51-year-old Fayetteville woman was killed Sunday attempting to cross the southbound lanes of Interstate 540 from the median, according to an Arkansas State Police report.
Diane M. Niss, 51, of 3034 John Wayne Drive was a pedestrian crossing the southbound lanes at state Highway 112 when struck by a 1996 Ford vehicle traveling south in the outside lane, the preliminary fatal crash summary states.
The accident occurred at 8:07 p.m., according to the report. Niss was pronounced dead at the scene, the report states. She would have been 52 on Friday.
Gabe Weaver of the Arkansas State Police said Fayetteville Police received a report that evening from a man who said he saw a white Chevy Tahoe driving erratically on Greg Avenue.
A short time later a white Chevy Tahoe went the wrong way up an I-540 exit ramp at Exit 66 at State Highway 112. The woman driving the Chevy Tahoe sideswiped a Toyota SUV, an eyewitness said.
The woman stopped the Tahoe and got out, then was struck in the southbound lane by a 1996 Ford, State Police said. The woman was later identified as Niss.
The driver of the Ford probably won’t be cited, Weaver said. State officials are conducting drug and alcohol tests on Niss. The results won’t be known for a couple of weeks, he said.
According to an officer in Van Buren, Niss graduated from Van Buren High School with the class of 1978.
