A Patrol trooper and another man sustained minor injuries in a three-vehicle accident two miles south of Eagleville on Thursday night, January 7th that involved a patrol emergency vehicle en route to a priority call and a tractor-trailer truck.
Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, 29-year-old Dylan Wilburn of Saint Joseph, and the driver of another car, 31-year-old Franklin Garcia of Kansas City, were transported by emergency medical services to the Harrison County Community Hospital of Bethany. The truck driver, 60-year-old Joaquin Medina of San Elizario, Texas was not reported injured.
The three vehicles traveled north on Interstate 35, with the truck in the driving lane and the cars in the passing lane, when Garcia’s car attempted to overtake the tractor-trailer at mile marker 104, the car cut in on the truck, and the car’s rear passenger side struck the front driver’s side of the truck. After impact, the car swerved into the passing lane, traveled into the path of the patrol car, and the front of the patrol vehicle struck the rear of Garcia’s car.
The patrol car went off the left side of the road and came to rest upright in the median. The other car went off the left side of the road, overturned multiple times, and came to rest on its top in the median. The truck came to a controlled stop on the northbound outside shoulder north of the crash.
Wilburn’s car was a fully marked patrol emergency vehicle that had full emergency equipment activated at the time of the crash. The damage was reported to the front of the patrol car, which was considered totaled. The car driven by Garcia was also totaled, and no damage was reported for the tractor-trailer. All occupants wore seat belts.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene of the crash.
