Fayetteville, AR — A road worker was hit by a vehicle in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Wednesday, June 22, 2015. The accident took place at the intersection of Lafayette Street and Thompson Avenue.
The man responsible for the accident has been identified as 43-year-old Charles Ashley. Local reports say that Ashley drove into a construction zone, past a worker holding a stop sign, and parked his vehicle beneath a forklift moving pallets of sheet rock.
As authorities were arriving, White was backing out his vehicle and hit a construction worker trying to stop him. The man held onto the hood of White’s vehicle until he could be stopped. The extent of the injuries the man sustained in the accident are unknown. His name has not been released.
White would later tell police that he did not stop after hitting the worker because he was worried the man would be hit by another vehicle. Police charged him with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.
Scene of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary
In most cases, employers will have a workers’ comp policy that will step in and provide benefits to any employees injured in an on-the-job accident. Workers’ comp laws prevent employees from pursuing negligence claims against their employer in all but a few cases. However, these laws don’t apply to third parties involved in the accident. Whenever a third party is involved — like there was in this accident, for example — victims are allowed to pursue claims against them, without having their workers’ comp benefits affected.
— Grossman Law Offices
