FORT SMITH (KFSM)—Some tenants of a local apartment complex said something needs to be done after a woman was killed pulling onto a busy road on Thursday (May 11).
“Cars travel up and down this street so fast,” Joshua Pickle said. “This accident could've been prevented by a stoplight.”
Pickle spoke to 5NEWS moments after his fiancée was T-boned by a white pickup truck heading east on Zero Street. Ann Nuzzi was making a left-hand turn out of the Links Apartment Complex. She was killed upon impact, according to police. Her 4-year-old daughter in the backseat was treated and released from an area hospital that same day.
“If there's anything I can do by just going out there and saying please put in a street light, save someone else's life because that's what my fiancée would want,” Pickle said.
Several other people who live at the Links agree.
“I think it'd be a great idea to go ahead and put a stoplight in, I really do,” said tenant Crawford Dozier.
Crosses and a teddy bear are now posted at the accident site to remember the mother of four. Her funeral is set for Tuesday (May 16). Friends have set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the expenses.
Dozier has lived at the apartment complex for more than four years and said he has seen some close calls.
“I think it's extremely dangerous,” he said “Actually it's incumbent upon the people coming out of the apartment complex to really really judge down a distance. Around rush hour, it could be really really daunting.”
However, not everyone is so sure a stoplight will work for a number of reasons.
“You kind of get into analytics there because you’re not too far from the intersection of Old Greenwood and Hwy. 45,” said Sgt. Daniel Grubbs.
Tenant Mike Pyle added, “I guess [a stoplight] needs to be done, but it would be I guess a nuisance as in just another stoplight on Zero as opposed to the one there in front of Ben Geren.”
The Fort Smith Street Department said they are looking into the possibility of a traffic light, but ultimately they need to consult with engineers and the Arkansas State Highway Department.
Meanwhile police said the collision is still under investigation.