Personal Injury Law

Three-Car Missouri Crash Kills One, Injures Five

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

A three-car crash north of Montgomery City, Mo. killed one driver and injured five others Saturday morning.

The accident occurred on Missouri 161 as Paula Wollberg, 51, ran a stop sign as she was crossing the highway on Route CC in her 2001 Dodge, according to the highway patrol report. Wollberg?s vehicle was hit by two others and she was partially ejected.

Wollberg was pronounced dead on the scene. The drivers and passengers of the other vehicles all received some sort of injury with Mike Swarnes, 39, and Susan Swarnes, 37, being the most seriously injured. Garrett Swarnes, 9; Andrew Davenport, 73; and Dale Sturgeon, 73, each received relatively minor injuries. All of the injured were taken to Audrain Medical for treatment.

Since there was a fatality in this accident, an accident reconstruction will be conducted to determine the exact circumstances that lead to this Missouri crash. While the accident report may say that Wollberg ran a stop sign, this is just the opinion of the investigating officer based on initial evidence. Under Missouri evidence law, these opinions are considered hearsay unless the officer witnessed the crash or is trained in accident reconstruction. Since most patrol officers don?t have this training, further investigation is often needed.

The most important thing for the inured parties to do is contact an experienced personal injury attorney. He or she will be able to collect the evidence from any investigation and often recover damages to cover medical bills, lost wages, and any other expenses that might have arisen as a result of the accident.

The Bradley Law Firm has more than 30 years experience handling personal injury cases in Missouri and Illinois. Contact us for a free consultation with one of our personal injury lawyers.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on August 11, 2008 (boomark / email).