Car Runs Over Man In Bed

A man awoke to more than a clatter Sunday morning: a wayward car flying into his bedroom and crushing him in his own bed.

"It hit the outside bedroom wall, continued through the bedroom, over the bed and partially exited through the side wall," Pine Bluff Lt. Bob Rawlinson said. "The guy was pinned under the car and rolled up in the mattress."

Police say Devlon Chandler, 34, of Pine Bluff and his wife Arninitra were traveling home from a casino in Greenville, Miss., when he fell asleep at the wheel. Police say the couple's car left the road, traveled over a grassy area, clipped a telephone pole, ruptured a gas main and went airborne before coming to rest in the bedroom of Ricky May, 42, of Pine Bluff.

The bed and other furniture were crushed under the car, Rawlinson said.

"The car was totally inside the house and a little bit sticking out through the other side," Rawlinson said. Two walls were destroyed, he said.

Rescuers were able to free May and he was taken to the Jefferson Regional Medical Center in Pine Bluff, where he was initially listed in serious but stable condition, but improved by Sunday afternoon, police said.

May suffered an eye injury and burns from where the vehicle landed on him, authorities said, and he may have to have his right-hand ring finger amputated. He was transferred Sunday afternoon to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to deal with the injury to his eye, police said.

The Chandlers also were taken to the hospital, but their injuries were not serious and they were treated and released.

Rawlinson said the Chandlers' vehicle traveled 500 feet from the spot it left Highway 65 until it came to rest in May's bedroom. Police say Devlon Chandler was ticketed for failing to maintain control of a motor vehicle, driving on a suspended license and not having proof of insurance.

The vehicle also ruptured a gas line at May's home, but police said they were able to turn it off. The other gas line break, at the intersection of Highway 65 and Grider Field Road, could not be cut off and authorities said it will require extensive repair work.

"You could hear that gas main roaring hundreds of feet away," Rawlinson said. "It completely tore it out of the ground."

Rawlinson said alcohol was not a factor in the accident and said that there have been several fatal accidents within the last year at the same spot because of a long curve in the highway.