A driver fell asleep at the wheel of his vehicle, veered off U.S. Highway 71 near Ashdown, Ark., and hit the rear of a Little River County deputy sheriff’s patrol car during a freak weekend accident.

The impact knocked the patrol car into a third vehicle, slamming the driver’s-side door shut on the arm of the deputy.

Deputy Sheriff Zane Butler had stopped a 1999 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Zachery Scott Gentry, 17, of Ashdown, to check the registration about 6 p.m. Saturday on U.S. Highway 71 north near the Ashdown city limits. The traffic stop was on the southbound shou...

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