Driver who told trooper “God took over” charged with negligent homicide in I-40 crash

MAYFLOWER, Ark. — A Faulkner County circuit judge has issued an arrest warrant for Kenneth Clayton Wilson, 65, of Shreveport, the driver whose van stopped in the middle of Interstate 40 in August, setting off a crash that killed a Morrilton man. Wilson now faces a felony charge of negligent homicide while intoxicated.

Wilson is charged with five counts:

• negligent homicide while intoxicated, a Class B felony
• possession of a Schedule I or II controlled substance weighing between 2 and 28 grams, a Class C felony
• possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor
• driving while intoxicated, first offense
• parking where prohibited, a violation

A judge found probable cause on Aug. 28. The circuit clerk’s office issued the bench warrant Aug. 31. As of Wednesday, court records did not show the warrant had been served. No bond amount is listed on the warrant.

The prosecutor’s charging form marks Wilson as a habitual offender with two to three prior felony convictions. That status can lengthen the prison terms available under Arkansas law. Without the enhancement, a Class B felony carries five to 20 years, and a Class C felony carries three to 10 years.

The crash happened around 9:46 p.m. Aug. 11 on westbound I-40 near the 135 mile marker. Wilson’s 2017 Freightliner Sprinter came to a stop in the roadway, and a Honda Accord driven by Matthew Murphy of Morrilton hit the rear of the van. A tractor-trailer overturned onto the shoulder while trying to avoid the wreck. Murphy was taken to Baptist Health in Conway, where he died.

In the arrest warrant affidavit, Trooper Tanner Crossland wrote that Wilson could not say whether his van was stopped or moving when it was hit. At the hospital, Wilson told the trooper he had been hallucinating and that “God took over control of the vehicle and stopped in the middle of the roadway causing the collision.”

Crossland also wrote that the day after the crash, Conway police told him Wilson had attacked staff at Conway Regional Hospital. Wilson was being taken by ambulance to a behavioral hospital in Maumelle, and Conway police asked state police to help escort the ambulance out of the city.

Troopers searched the Sprinter on the evening of Aug. 12. They reported finding about 4.5 grams of suspected psilocybin mushrooms, along with cigarette butts, a coffee filter and a coffee cup bearing suspected psilocybin residue, and various ammunition.

The court filings do not include the results of the blood samples Wilson gave at the hospital. No attorney is listed for Wilson in online court records.