One person was killed and two others were hospitalized in a single-vehicle accident on snowy Interstate 540 between Exits 81 and 82 in Rogers on Sunday (March 2), officials said.
The person who was killed, 35-year-old Bruce Kanki of Springdale, was ejected from a 2004 Dodge Durango that left the roadway and plunged down an embankment into a rock creek bed about 1:55 p.m., according to an Arkansas State Police report. He had been riding in the back seat and was pronounced dead at the scene by the Benton County coroner.
The driver, Daniel Naisher, 24, of Springdale, faces charges of careless/prohibited driving and not having insurance, according to the report. He was taken to Mercy Hospital in Rogers with non-life-threatening injuries.
The third occupant, Allee Naisher, 25, of Springdale, also was hospitalized at Mercy, according to the report. He was riding in the front passenger seat.
The vehicle was traveling from Missouri to Springdale in the southbound lanes when it lost control in a curve on the ice- and snow-covered roadway south of the Bellview overpass, the report states. The vehicle struck a guardrail and then hit the retaining wall of a bridge, sliding along the edge and top of the retaining wall before going over the side and into a rock creek bed, the report states.