Mayflower man arrested in Oklahoma case

Sunday, August 22nd 2004, 10:45 am

By: News On 6

MAYFLOWER, Ark. (AP) _ A Mayflower man facing six misdemeanor negligent homicide charges stemming from a 2002 traffic accident on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma has been arrested by U.S. deputy marshals and local police.

Raymond Lynn Box, 62, was taken to the Pulaski County Jail after his arrest Friday. He was picked up by Oklahoma authorities for return to that state Friday evening, a jail spokesman said Saturday.

Box was arrested on a governor's warrant issued by the office of Gov. Mike Huckabee, according to Brian Murray, chief deputy marshal for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

``States don't normally expedite on misdemeanor warrants, so Oklahoma appealed to Gov. Huckabee to issue a governor's warrant, and he did,'' Murray said.

The charges were filed after a tractor-trailer driven by Box was involved in a three-vehicle crash on Aug. 10, 2002, in the northbound lanes of I-35 near Purcell, Okla. Authorities say the big rig, carrying a load of peaches, collided with the rear of a car and a sport-utility vehicle.

A family of five in the car and a passenger in the SUV were killed. The SUV's driver was blinded.