Log truck driver arrested after numerous accidents

Benton police say that at least three people were injured Thursday in several traffic accidents caused by a fully-loaded log truck. None of the injuries were serious. Sergeant Scotty Hodges says that 53 year old Ken Ashcraft of Adona was driving the truck and hit five different vehicles at separate locations in the city. Ashcraft was arrested on five counts of aggravated assault and five counts of criminal mischief. Hodges said as best he could tell Ashcraft was hitting the vehicles in the rear to get them out of the way because all of them were forced off the road. Damage estimates exceeded 15 thousand dollars. Police said officers did not know what prompted the erratic driving. The first collision occurred just before noon; another was reported a short while later; and two more occurred on streets in older parts of town. A fifth collision, on Arkansas 35, occurred less than 15 minutes after the first. Ashcraft reportedly told investigators he was hauling about an 80 thousand-pound load of pine trees to W-L-S Sawmill on Highway 35. A spokesman for the sawmill said Ashcraft did not work for the company nor did he know the man.