Hit-and-run at City Hall
Typical downtown comings-and-goings were punctuated Tuesday by a two-car collision at the intersection of Jackson Avenue and Lauderdale Street.
Mayor David Grissom heard the crash inside his office as a white Ford F-150 and a silver Honda CR-V crashed into each other shortly after 11 a.m. The truck was traveling north on Jackson and the Honda east on Lauderdale.
The driver of the Honda fled the scene in his vehicle, according to eyewitness accounts. Alison Frederick was one passerby on the scene, who was leaving the post office and saw it fly by. “I tried to get the tag number, and it didn’t have a tag,” she said.
The Ford landed halfway in a tree outside of city hall, a Garden Club planter crushed into its undercarriage and its driver’s side running board laying in the road, both airbags deployed. The driver, a 17-year-old male, who was the only person in the vehicle, had a knot on his forehead and was transported by Shoals Ambulance to Russellville Hospital.
Police located the silver Honda CR-V just a few minutes later and just a few blocks away. Russellville Police Chief Chris Hargett said the driver was located based on eyewitness testimony and evidence from the scene. The driver, a male juvenile, was charged with a felony count of leaving the scene of an accident.