Truck Driver Arrested After Fatal Accident

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) _ A tractor-trailer crossed a highway center line and struck a car head on, killing a woman and her four young children, police said. <br/><br/>The truck driver, Roy Lee Jordan, 57,

Sunday, July 15th 2007, 3:07 pm

By: News On 6

PINE BLUFF, Ark. (AP) _ A tractor-trailer crossed a highway center line and struck a car head on, killing a woman and her four young children, police said.

The truck driver, Roy Lee Jordan, 57, of Benton, Miss., was arrested and jailed after Saturday's crash, police and a jailer said.

``What it seems like right now is that the driver of the 18-wheeler fell asleep or lost consciousness before his rig crossed the center line,'' Trooper Oscar Bullard Jr. said. Blood and urine samples were taken to the state crime laboratory for drug and alcohol tests, state police said.

LaKetria Wells, 26, of Monticello, was killed along with her children, LaKiyah Wells, 7; Kaleb Jarrell Stokes, 5; Keyshon Wells, 4; and LaKayla Wells, 2. She was a correctional officer at Cummins prison since April 2006, according to state Correction Department spokeswoman Dina Tyler.

Elsewhere, a head-on collision between a pickup truck and a sport-utility vehicle killed four people in western Nevada, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.

Troopers said they were investigating whether alcohol or a medical condition played a role in the crash. The SUV, driven by Dawn Miley, 42, of Gardnerville, went off the pavement and struck a road marker before crossing into the oncoming lane and striking the pickup, trooper said. She was in serious condition in Reno.

All four occupants of the pickup were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were not released.