Several Wrecks During the Week; Most Drivers Escape Serious Injuries

Law enforcement officers investigated several traffic mishaps during the past week, but serious injuries were few.

One exception was a 28-year-old Ava woman who was hospitalized following a crash in Ozark County last Friday afternoon.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Sarah M. Rose, of Ava, was traveling south on Ozark County P when she crashed her 2008 Jeep Cherokee.

Rose suffered serious injuries in the 6 p.m. crash and was airlifted to Mercy Hospital in Springfield.

Friends of Ms. Rose said she suffered a broken neck in the crash, but was released from the hospital earlier this week.

The Highway Patrol said the wreck occurred when the driver failed to negotiate a curve, ran off the right side of the roadway and overturned.

The report said she was wearing her seatbelt.

Glen A. Andrews, 24, of Cedar Hill, Mo., was transported to Mercy Hospital with moderate injuries following a 12:50 a.m. wreck Saturday, 14 miles west of Ava on Highway 14.

Andrews was a passenger in a 2006 Nissan driven by Mindy Fossett-McFarlin, 35, of Ava.

The driver suffered minor injuries but refused treatment at the scene, according to the Highway Patrol.

The wreck occurred as the car ran off the right side of the road and overturned. The driver said she swerved to avoid a deer in the roadway, and lost control of the car.

Troy Montana escaped injury in a wreck just before noon Monday that resulted in heavy damage to equipment he was hauling.

Montana was driving a full-size pickup, pulling a trailer and hauling a tractor and other equipment on Highway 76 east of Ava. The pickup ran off the roadway just west of the Bryant Creek Bridge, causing the pickup to overturn and throwing the tractor off the trailer. The tractor, which sustained major damage, also hit a utility pole causing a telephone line to fall across the roadway.

Three people suffered minor injuries Monday afternoon in a crash in Ava, but all refused transport by ambulance.

The wreck happened at approximately 5 p.m. at the intersection of Highway 5 and Route Y in Ava and affected traffic in the busy intersection for more than an hour.

Ava Policeman Winston Collins reported that a GMC SUV driven by Cody Gast, traveling west, drove into the path of a northbound 2012 Nissan pickup that was traveling north on Highway 5.

Gast, as well as the driver of the pickup, Linda Albert, and a passenger, Venetta Pavalone, all refused medical treatment at the scene.