A 66-year-old Pine Bluff man was killed early on Sunday morning while riding his bicycle on Olive Street. Dwayne Stevens, who was originally from California had been living at the same address for the past 53 years. Deltaplex News spent a good portion of the day on Monday trying to verify the identity of the man, who was finally identified as Stevens. We were told the delay was due to out of state relatives being located to notify them of Stevens death. Stevens was struck just after 5 a.m. at Olive and Ridgway by a black SUV. The driver of the vehicle was taken to Jefferson Regional after the accident. That much we know. What we don’t know is the identity or the condition of the driver, due to what we have been told is “new protocols” that were installed by the new Police Chief Shawn Davis and the City Of Pine Bluff. These new protocols will slow down the process of desseminating information. Deltaplex News contacted the Arkansas State Police, who posts information about fatality crashes on their website. They told us that they are at the mercy of the Pine Bluff Police Department as to when the reports are provided to them. At this point, we are working strictly on rumors as to the identity of the driver and will not release the information until it is released. Deltaplex News has filed a FOIA request for the full police incident report, which must be turned over by 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. FOIA requests remain the only tool at our disposal to try and overcome these new protocals.
