A Wrong-Way Driver Got 20 Years. What Does a Passenger Still Have to Show About the Trip?
On January 14, 2024, at 4:35 a.m., a 2019 Toyota Camry was going east in the westbound lane of Fayetteville’s Fulbright Expressway. A 2009 Chevrolet Equinox was going west in that same lane. The vehicles hit front to front. The Arkansas State Police fatal summary, report 13, records clear weather and a dry road.
A child who was a passenger in the Equinox died. The summary lists that passenger as a minor and does not print a name or an age. The prosecutor’s announcement, and 40/29 News, describe her as 12.
On July 7, 2025, Washington County Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor sentenced the Camry driver, Alexander Rios-Rodriguez, after a guilty plea. The criminal sentence does not decide which policy, if any, covered the passengers.
What the fatal summary records
The summary says the Camry was traveling eastbound in the westbound lane and hit the Equinox front to front. It lists the Camry driver as Alexander Rios-Rodriguez, age 27, of Farmington. It names the Equinox driver and the other adult occupants. It marks who was driving and who was a passenger. The person who died is listed only as a minor passenger in the Equinox.
The summary does not say the Equinox was on a rideshare trip. It does not name a company. It does not record an app status, an acceptance time, or a trip receipt.
The prosecutor’s announcement says the wreck was around 4:30 a.m. 40/29 News put it between 4:30 and 5 a.m. The summary’s time is 4:35 a.m.
What the sentence established
The announcement reproduced by SW Arkansas Today says Rios-Rodriguez, 28, of Russellville, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and three counts of second-degree battery. Judge Taylor sentenced him on July 7, 2025, to 20 years for negligent homicide and 10 years on each battery count. The terms run at the same time. The announcement says the 20-year term “is the maximum sentence allowed by law.”
The announcement says Arkansas State Police troopers took a blood sample that showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.13. 40/29 News reported that figure is above 0.08, and that the sentence was part of a plea deal.
A guilty plea and a sentence decide the criminal case the announcement describes. They do not decide a passenger’s insurance claim.
What a passenger still has to show about the trip
40/29 News and the prosecutor’s announcement say the Equinox was driven by a rideshare driver and carried three passengers, including the child who died. They say the driver and the other two passengers were hurt, as were Rios-Rodriguez and his passenger. The announcement says those injuries were critical. Neither report names the company.
A passenger still has to show the trip. The useful records are the ride request, the time the driver accepted, and whether the passenger was in the car on that accepted ride. Those facts are not in the fatal summary. They are not in the sentencing announcement.
Without them, the reports do not show which policy, if any, applied to the passengers. The Arkansas insurance guide describes how state law divides logged-in time from an accepted ride. It does not decide this trip.
Sources
- Arkansas State Police fatal summary, report 13, January 14, 2024, Fulbright Expressway, Fayetteville
- SW Arkansas Today, July 9, 2025, reproducing the Washington County prosecutor’s announcement of the sentence
- 40/29 News report on the July 7, 2025 sentencing
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