An arrest warrant has been issued for a Texarkana man in connection with a wreck in Hot Springs, Ark., that took the lives of four people last May.
Benjamin Ward Ledwell, 33, is also being sued by members of the four victims' families for damages in a civil wrongful death lawsuit.
Ledwell was driving a 2011 Ford F-250 on May 19, 2015, northbound at 3 p.m. on Highway 7 at Tower Road in Hot Springs County, when he crossed the center line and struck a 2006 Chevrolet Uplander sports utility vehicle head on, according to an Arkansas State Police fatal crash summary.
All of the dead were from Bismarck, Ark. Cindy Rhein, 51, who was driving the Uplander, applied her brakes as she saw the truck approaching, according to the civil complaint.
"After the impact, Mrs. Rhein's vehicle was consumed in fire," the complaint states.
Allen Rhein, 63, was transported to St. Vincent Hospital in Hot Springs, where he was pronounced dead. Ledwell also was treated for injuries at St. Vincent. Cindy Rhein and two of her children-Steven Sprankle, 22, and Anthony Sprankle, 21-were pronounced dead at the scene.
An arrest warrant charging Ledwell with four counts of criminally negligent homicide had not been served on the Texarkana, Texas, man as of Thursday, according to an official with the Hot Springs County Circuit Clerk's Office. The official said Ledwell is likely to be released and given a court date once the warrant is served.
Little Rock lawyers Denise Hoggard, of Rainwater, Holt and Sexton law firm, and Robert Francis, of Reddick Moss law firm, inked their names on a complaint filed Monday in Hot Springs County Circuit Court. Walter Rhein, brother of Allen Rhein, and Michelle Sprankle, daughter of Cindy Rhein and sister of Steven Sprankle and Anthony Sprankle, are named as plaintiffs in the wrongful death suit.
"At the time of the collision, defendant Benjamin W. Ledwell, the driver of the truck that crossed the center line and struck the Rhein/Sprankle vehicle head on causing the death of all four occupants, was believed to be under the influence of alcohol and prescription pills," the complaint states. "Empty beer cans and prescription pill bottles were found in defendant's vehicle on the scene of the crash."
The complaint alleges Ledwell was negligent for driving too fast and for failing to maintain a proper lookout. The complaint seeks damages for the plaintiffs' non-economic losses, including emotional distress and mental anguish, as well as economic losses, including medical expenses, loss of earnings and burial costs.
Ledwell's troubles in Hot Springs County are not the first allegations of intoxicated driving he's faced. Ledwell was arrested in Texarkana, Ark., during a traffic stop Sept. 11, 2008, in the 3600 block of North State Line Avenue. Ledwell was pulled over a few minutes before midnight for twice failing to signal lane changes and following too closely, according to a Texarkana, Ark., police report on file in the 2008 case.
The arresting officer's report alleges Ledwell smelled strongly of alcohol and performed poorly on field sobriety tests. Ledwell was charged with driving while intoxicated, first offense, and with refusing to submit to a breath test. Failing to submit to a breath test leads to an automatic, six-month suspension of driving privileges in Arkansas.
Ledwell appealed the misdemeanor charges to circuit court, and in June 2009 he was found guilty of reckless driving and of violating Arkansas' implied consent law for refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test. Ledwell was sentenced to 90 days' probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
In May 2011, Ledwell's commercial pilot's license, certified flight instructor license and second-class medical certificate were revoked by the National Transportation Safety Board. Ledwell was found to have intentionally misreported whether he had been arrested for an alcohol-related offense on a license application, according to an NTSB report. Pilots are required to report an alcohol-related arrest within 60 days and to truthfully respond to questions on licensing applications, according to the NTSB report.
During a hearing on the matter in April 2011, Ledwell claimed he had not been arrested by Texarkana, Ark., police, just taken to the police station and made to fill out paperwork, according to the NTSB report. The hearing judge found Ledwell's claims lacked credibility, noting Ledwell's degree in literature and level of education made his claim that he didn't understand the question on the application hard to believe.
"I mean, this wasn't just some little stop and have coffee with a policeman out there on that road that evening in Texarkana over in Arkansas. I mean, he was placed in the back of the patrol car. He was taken downtown," the NTSB report states. "And that event in and of itself was so dramatic in anybody's life and particularly someone-and apparently this is a first offense for him. And then to come and say that he had never been arrested is just not credible. Specifically, I find that there was an intentional falsification."
According to the docket in the May 23 civil suit filed in Hot Springs County, Ledwell has not yet been served with a copy of the complaint and no hearings have been scheduled. A conviction for criminally negligent homicide in Arkansas includes the possibility of a fine up to $15,000 and five to 20 years in prison.