A Hensley man was killed in a two-vehicle accident in Saline County Thursday afternoon.
According to a preliminary report from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, Melvin
Wilkerson, 85, was attempting to enter the southbound lanes of U.S. 167 from a private drive and pulled into the path of a Kenworth tractor-trailer that was southbound on the highway at the time. The driver of the tractor-trailer tried to avoid the 2007 Ford driven by Wilkerson by swerving left into the northbound lanes before the Kenworth struck the driver’s side of the Ford.
Wilkerson was taken to UAMS where he was pronounced dead. The report did not indicate if the driver of the tractor-trailer was injured.
The accident was reported at 3 p.m. and the death was the 591st reported so far this year on the state’s highways.
