Mo. Emergency Personnel Free Man Trapped After Roll-Over
July 14--COLUMBUS, Mo. -- A Holden man became trapped in his pickup truck following a roll-over wreck about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.
About 11 miles west of Warrensburg, on U.S. 50 within 200 yards of Highway M, William J. Reynolds, 43, Holden, lost control of his maroon, 2001 Ford F-150, the Missouri Highway Patrol reported.
Reynolds' vehicle swerved to avoid hitting an "uninvolved vehicle" and left the north side of U.S. 50. The pickup truck went down an incline and then up, coming to rest on the hillside, on the driver side of the truck.
Teams of about a dozen people from Johnson County Ambulance and Johnson County Fire Protection districts responded with the Highway Patrol to the scene.
With Reynolds trapped and the sun having set, Fire Protection District personnel worked under emergency lights. They first stabilized the truck to prevent sliding or rolling.
They then used a cutting tool to chop off the roof of the pickup truck.
With the roof being severed, three and sometimes four team members worked to fold back the truck roof, as if peeling back the lid of a mostly open can of beans. The effort succeeded in providing Ambulance District personnel access to Reynolds.
Ambulance personnel -- able to speak to Reynolds and assess, partly, the extent of his injuries -- then extracted him from the compartment, placed him on a stretcher and carried him to a waiting ambulance.
The entire effort -- starting under a buttermilk sky at twilight and ending as night descended -- took about half an hour.
Reynolds wore a seat belt. He suffered injuries termed "moderate" by the Highway Patrol.
Vehicle damage is listed as "extensive."
Copyright 2015 - The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.
