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Bryant teen dies in auto accident |
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Tuesday, 22 April 2008 |
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Alcohol, drugs found at scene A 17-year-old Bryant High School student died shortly after midnight Sunday in an automobile accident in front of the Coffey-Clifton Mobile Homes business on the Interstate 30 south service road.
Thomas J. Battisto of 2300 Carywood Drive was pronounced dead at the scene by Saline County Coroner Will Bearden.
Bryant police Officer Nick A. Ramsey said he was dispatched to the accident at 12:32 a.m. When he reached the scene, Battisto had no pulse, the officer said.
Ramsey said he found Battisto slumped in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The officer said a bottle of gin was between the victim’s legs and there was an odor of alcohol inside the vehicle.
Battisto was not wearing a seat belt and was “ejected violently into the steering wheel and windshield,” the officer said in his report of the accident.
Ramsey reported that the coroner contacted him at 2:45 a.m. and told him that he had found a small bag of marijuana in Battisto’s front left pocket.
The marijuana was picked up from the coroner and destroyed at the police department since Battisto is deceased, Ramsey said.
Battisto reportedly was driving a 1990 Toyota Tercel, which left the roadway 471 feet west of the south curb line of the south service road where it meets the west roadway edge of Tomahawk Drive. The area of impact was reported to be around 271 feet west and 25 feet south of the south curbline.
Battisto was the son of Cindy Battisto of Bryant and Joe Battisto of Little Rock.
Obituary information is on page 2.
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