Patrol works eight fatalities over long holiday weekend

By NewsPress Now

According to preliminary reports, the state office of the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported eight traffic fatalities and one drowning over the Fourth of July holiday period.

Troopers also worked 10 boating accidents, which included seven injuries. The patrol also made 10 boating-while-intoxicated arrests.

The drowning occurred on Stockton Lake, in southwest Missouri. Craig H. Olson, 60, of Shawnee, Kansas, was swimming near a vessel, went underwater and did not resurface. Olson was pronounced dead at the scene and troopers said he was not wearing a life jacket.

Of the 10 highway fatalities, the patrol said that four people died during an accident Friday on U.S. Highway 63 near LaPlata, Missouri, when a vehicle left the right side of the roadway, struck an embankment and overturned in a pond.

Overall, troopers worked 382 vehicle crashes that included 159 injuries and the eight fatalities. The patrol also said it made 147 driving-while-intoxicated arrests.

The patrol cautioned that the death toll could rise if injured victims later die.