Impaired driver pleads not guilty to negligent homicide charges

A man facing negligent homicide charges appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday.  Forty-five-year-old Ian Michael Tice of Mountain Home pled not guilty to the charges against him.In addition to negligent homicide, Tice is also charged with a number of traffic offenses, including driving while intoxicated, having an open container of alcohol in his vehicle, driving left of center and obstructing governmental operation.

He is currently an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center with bond set at $50,000.

If the death in a negligent homicide case is caused by a person driving while impaired, the prison term for the offender could range from 5-to-20 years and the fine could be up to $25,000.

The Arkansas State Police identified the victim in the December 9 accident as 19-year-old Adrianna Alsup of Mountain Home.

According to the police report, Tice’s vehicle, a 1966 Ford-350 displaying expired Tennessee license plates, crossed the centerline and struck Alsup’s vehicle causing it to rotate on the roadway. It was then struck by another car before leaving the roadway.

The fatal accident happened shortly after noon along State Highway 201 North in the Clarkridge area.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Tice first told officers he had not been driving the vehicle and that the driver had fled from the crash scene.

Tice has had two previous felony arrests in Baxter County, both in 2016.

In one case, he was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and possessing an instrument of crime.
The second arrest was made when Tice attacked a woman and fought with a man who heard the victim scream and came to help her.

Baxter County sheriff’s deputies found drug paraphernalia in the room where the attack took place.
Tice was put on probation in both of his previous cases.

He went on the run in late November 2017 and a failure to comply warrant was issued for his arrest. It was served 7 years and three months later when Tice was located and arrested in Jackson County, Alabama, and returned to Baxter County.

Tice’s probation in the assault case was extended by three years when he was brought back and the state dismissed the lesser offenses in the second case.

For a time, Tice and three others lived in the closed Buzzard Roost Resort which tax records showed was owned by Tice.

There were allegations of drug use, drug sales and other crimes swirling around residents at the location.

The building that housed the former resort burned to the ground in 2016.

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