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NEW LAW NAMED FOR STREET RACING ACCIDENT VICTIM

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Saturday, April 16, 2005 10:59 PM CDT

A new state law was named for a Pine Bluff man killed in a street racing accident last year.

Act 1568 of 2005 prohibits the use of nitrous oxide in motor vehicles. The law was signed by Gov. Mike Huckabee on April 6 and was named for Eric Turner, 27, who was killed when the motorcycle he was riding was hit by a car on Arkansas 88, south of Altheimer, on Sept. 6.

Investigators said a car driven by Maurice Kemp, 26, of Pine Bluff, was street racing on the wrong side of the road when it hit Turner's motorcycle head on. Police say the car was equipped with a nitrous oxide kit.

Sponsored by state Rep. Booker Clemons and state Sen. Jerry Taylor, both of Pine Bluff, the new law makes the use of nitrous oxide in a vehicle a Class C misdemeanor. If a vehicle or motorcycle is racing and uses nitrous oxide, it is considered an additional offense.

Nitrous oxide kits are used to increase the speed or performance of a motor vehicle or motorcycle engines and can be bought legally in Arkansas.

"We are hopeful that Eric's law will help prevent the loss of life and property on Arkansas highways caused by street racing," said the Rev. Jesse Turner, executive director of Interested Citizens for Voter Registration and the Respect for Life Conflict Resolution Initiative.

Eric Turner was Jesse Turner's nephew.

In January, Jefferson County Prosecutor Steve Dalrymple charged Kemp, Quinton York, 32, of Altheimer, and Allen D. Nelson, 43, of Pine Bluff, with manslaughter, a Class C felony in connection with Eric Turner's death.

York and Kemp were also charged with failure to stop after an accident with injury or death, a Class D felony.

The area where Turner was killed is called "Dead Man's Curve" by local residents, and according to Sheriff Boe Fontaine, "drag racing has been going on there for a number of years in that particular area."

Jesse Turner said street racing has become a "growing and unsafe fad" in states like Florida and California.

"The actions of the Arkansas Legislature will help prevent this dangerous activity from coming into the state of Arkansas," he said.

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