By Ray King
A Pine Bluff man was arrested Monday after police investigated a reported hit and run accident involving a child Sunday night.
Eddie Jackson, 45, was taken into custody after police were told Jackson had been watching the child at an apartment on West 15th Avenue near Hazel Street.
During a court hearing Tuesday, Deputy Prosecutor Mircha King said police were sent to 2116 W. 15th at 2:21 a.m. in response to a report that a reported hit and run accident. When officers arrived, they learned that the victim had been a 5-year-old child. A witness told police she had been traveling south on Hazel Street behind white pickup truck when the truck hit something. She said she stopped and saw that it was a child that had been hit.
Detective Tamina Smith reported that the mother said she left at about 12 a.m. when she left, the child and Jackson were in the bed watching a movie.
The mother told police she confronted Jackson and said “you let my child get hit.”
Pine Bluff District Judge Joh Kearney set a $5,000 bond for Jackson, who King said had no prior convictions or pending charges, after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge him with endangering the welfare of a minor. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim until the case is settled.
