Crash injures one driver, scatters cargo of onions

Despite being pinned under an overturned tractor-trailer rig in the Interstate 44 median, the driver of a white pickup truck suffered only moderate injuries Thursday afternoon.

The driver of the rig loaded with bags of onions suffered no injuries, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported, but his load was scattered all over the median where firefighters cut the pickup driver out of his truck.

Traffic was delayed for hours after the eastbound 2010 Ford Ranger driven by Wesley J. Thornton, 22, of Willard clipped the eastbound rig, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.

The mangled vehicles were in the median of I-44 near the 75-mile marker, said patrol spokesman Cpl. Shane Monk. The site is about a tenth of a mile west of Springfield city limits.

The 2002 Freightliner rig with Tennessee plates was driven by Wesley A. Griffin, 34, of Burns, Tenn.

A helicopter landed at a nearby parking lot, but Thornton was transported to St. John's Hospital by ambulance.

Springfield News-Leader

www.news-leader.com

Friday, August 19, 2011 6:52 a.m.