Car Rented By State Senator Bill Lewellen Found In Ditch

Arkansas State Police are still investigating how a car with papers indicating that former state senator Bill Lewellen had rented it ended up in a ditch off Interstate 40 outside Forrest City. Lewellen has a law practice in Marianna and is a lawyer in the successful Lake View School District case. He became angry when asked about the vehicle. He said that someone ran the vehicle off the road, that he wasn`t hurt and that no one else was injured. Lewellen would not say if he was driving the car or if he owned or rented it, but said he "paid for" the vehicle. State police at Forrest City received a call Friday night about the car in the ditch. State police would not discuss the case further. ------ In 1999, a judge dismissed a driving while intoxicated charge against Lewellen, a state senator at the time, but found him guilty of refusing a blood-alcohol test after a traffic accident that killed a pedestrian. Lewellen passed a field sobriety test. Lewellen`s driver`s license was suspended for six months after he was charged. By the time of the trial he was eligible to have his license reinstated. Lewellen apologized for the accident.