3 killed in weekend accidents

NEW MADRID, Mo. -- Three persons were killed in accidents on Southeast Missouri highways during the weekend.

At 7:25 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Route U and Country Road 732, Isaac Cooper, 18, of New Madrid was driving northbound when his vehicle ran off the right side of the roadway and overturned. Cooper was ejected from the vehicle, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Cooper was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m. at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston.

Also Sunday a Jackson man died from injuries in an accident at 3:40 p.m. at the intersection of Highway 25 and County Road 316 in Cape Girardeau County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported that Willard D. Goodson, 81, was driving northbound when his vehicle ran off the left side of the roadway. The vehicle then struck a tree.

Goodson was pronounced dead at the scene by Coroner John Clifton at 3:47 p.m. A passenger in his vehicle, Jean Goodson, 80, of Jackson was taken by ambulance to the Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau for treatment of moderate injuries.

An East Prairie man was killed after his utility vehicle overturned Saturday in Mississippi County.

According to Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 6:50 p.m. on Highway A, 14 miles south of East Prairie, Randy L. Woods, 50, of East Prairie was operating a utility vehicle when he rear-ended the all-terrain vehicle driven by a 14-year-old from Sikeston. Woods' vehicle then overturned.

Woods was pronounced dead at the scene by Mississippi County coroner Terry Parker and taken to Ponder Funeral Home.

The three deaths bring the fatality count in the Patrol's Troop E to nine this year.