By JOE LAMB
LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER

Five months after 25-year-old Cristie Ann Johnson fell from a moving vehicle and was killed, felony manslaughter charges have been filed against the vehicle's driver, Steven T. Sanson, 26, of Conway.

Sanson was arrested Tuesday and has since been released on a $5,000 bond.

The man told police that Johnson, his girlfriend, jumped out the window of his 1992 Buick as he drove down Burgess Road north of Wooster at about 8:30 p.m. on July 9.

Autopsy results indicated that the young woman's injuries were consistent with Sanson's statements, and Maj. Andy Shock of the Faulkner County Sheriff's Office said on July 10 that "every shred of physical evidence at the scene would be very, very consistent with what he said."

Sanson said that he and his girlfriend had been arguing in the vehicle that night, and the argument became physical before she jumped. Scratches on Sanson's neck were consistent with the fight scenario he described, police said.

Deputy Faulkner County prosecuting attorney Angie Byrd said the state's evidence does not immediately seem to contradict the chain of events Sanson described. It was his actions after the woman exited the vehicle, Byrd explained, that led to the manslaughter charges.

"He continued past multiple houses and did not stop for help, then he stayed for some time frame at his aunt's house and then came back to completely the wrong place," she said. "At a minimum he was reckless and at most he assisted her in committing suicide. We're confident that the facts will establish that he acted recklessly in relation to what culminated in her death."

(Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached by e-mail at joe.lamb@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)