Driver tries to hide alcohol

Franklynne Sourjohn was driving home Tuesday afternoon on Arkansas Highway 94 north of Pea Ridge when she saw a van heading straight towards her “I was driving towards Pea Ridge when I seen him start coming over. I started to slow down; I thought he was pulling over,” she said. “It’s amazing he didn’t hit us.” Behind her, Clinton and Sarah Dougherty were also southbound when they saw the brakes light up on the vehicle in front of them.

“I saw the van cross the road infront of them and slammed on my brakes,” Sarah Doughterty said, adding that she went to the scene to o◊er aid to the driver as she is a certified nurse assistant.

The northbound van drove across the southbound lane, through a closed metal gate, knocking over fence posts and a telephone box before coming to a stop in the fi eld.

“I saw him pour out a cup of alcohol then through a bottle in the pond,” she said, adding that she picked up the cup and smelled the contents, before returning it to the ground for evidence. She and her brother o◊ered the driver assistance, but he declined, she said.

“He said ‘I’ll drive it home,’” Michael Doughtery said of the van driver.

“He was bleeding profusely,” Sarah Doughtery said.

The driver, Carl Gene Parsons, 63, of Seligman, Mo., declined treatment from Pea Ridge Fire and Ambulance personnel. He was taken to Benton County Jail by State Trooper Lori Whillock where he was booked for DWI, careless driving and refusal to submit to intoxication test.

News, Pages 1 on 09/18/2013