By JOEL PHELPS | The Arkadelphian

An Arkadelphia man has been charged in connection with the March 2022 death of a woman who apparently jumped from his vehicle and to her death.

Prosecutors this week filed felony charges against Alvin Hill, 67, for his alleged involvement in the death of 23-year-old Erin Williams, who on the afternoon of March 26 jumped from Hill’s moving SUV and onto state Highway 8, less than a mile north of Palmetto Road. She was then struck by a pickup truck towing a camper, and died at the scene. 

Before exiting the vehicle, Williams called 911 and spoke with a dispatcher with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. She told dispatchers that Hill was driving recklessly and would not let her out of the vehicle, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by Chris Garner, a special agent with the Arkansas State Police Criminal Investigation Division.

On the recording of the 911 call, a male could be heard saying the two “were both going to die.” 

Cpl. Chris Harper, who investigated the accident, noted in a preliminary fatal crash report that Williams “fell” from the vehicle “for unknown reasons.”

According to the affidavit, witnesses told police that it had appeared Williams “jumped out of the back drivers side portion of the vehicle.”

In the days following Williams’ death, a family friend shared with The Arkadelphian a video taken in the aftermath. In addition to several police vehicles in the background, the video shows a lifeless body on the highway and a black male kneeled at the shoulder in an apparent struggle with another person. Four uniformed police officers and a civilian in plain clothes surrounded the scene with guns drawn. The video shows the struggle between the two men come to an end when one of the officers fires a stun gun, the black male falling flat onto the highway.

This week, Clark County Prosecutor Dan Turner filed formal charges against Hill, who is accused of false imprisonment as well as terroristic threatening. First-degree false imprisonment is a Class C felony, punishable by three to 10 years in prison, and the terroristic threatening charge carries a prison sentence of up to six years. Both charges carry a fine of up to $10,000.

At the time of this writing, Hill was a free man though a warrant for his arrest has been issued.