Four separate fatal accidents were reported during the weekend in West Central Missouri.
A Warrensburg teenager was killed in a single-vehicle accident at 9:05 a.m. Friday in Johnson County. According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Ashley J. Simons, 17, was driving west on state Route 13 near NE 550th Road when her vehicle traveled off the right side of the road and into a lake. The vehicle overturned and came to rest on its top and submerged.
Simons was taken by Johnson County Ambulance District to Western Missouri Medical Center in Warrensburg where she was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. Reports indicate Simons was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident.
Later that afternoon, a Syracuse man was killed in a two-vehicle accident at 1:20 p.m. in Moniteau County.
According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Manix L. Schmidt, 29, was driving south in the northbound lane on state Route 5, seven-tenths of a mile north of state Route NN, as he passed an uninvolved vehicle. Michael D. Claas, 41, of Tipton, was driving northbound in the northbound lane on Route 5.
Both drivers took to the northbound shoulder to avoid each other, where the vehicles struck head-on.
Schmidt was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:35 p.m. by Moniteau County Coroner Marty Ramsdell. Claas was taken by private vehicle to Boone Hospital Center in Columbia with moderate injuries. Reports indicate Claas was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, but Schmidt was not.
On Saturday, a Warrensburg man was killed in a single-vehicle accident at 1:15 p.m. in Johnson County.
According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Edward W. Davenport, 72, was driving a tractor east in the 400 block of Southwest state Route BB when his vehicle overturned, ejecting Davenport. The tractor came to rest on top of Davenport.
Davenport was pronounced dead at 2 p.m. by Johnson County Coroner Clark Holdren.
Later that same afternoon, a Rich Hill woman was killed in a two-vehicle accident at 4:54 p.m. in Henry County.
According to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report, Lisa K. Tucker, 57, was driving east on state Route 52 at state Route K when she failed to stop at a stop sign. She pulled into the path of a westbound tractor-trailer driven by James C. Lipe, 50, of Windsor. Lipe’s vehicle struck Tucker’s vehicle.
Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene by Coroner Dane Sisk. Reports indicate Lipe was wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, but Tucker was not.
