12 traffic fatalities, 3 drownings over holiday weekend

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Highway Patrol reported 12 traffic fatalities and three drownings over the July Fourth holiday counting period that began at 6 p.m., Wednesday and ran to 11:59 p.m., Sunday.

Overall, troopers worked 376 traffic crashes which included 139 injuries while making 160 DWI arrests and 110 drug arrests over the holiday weekend. Troopers also worked 11 boating crashes which included five injuries and made 12 BWI arrests and 28 drug arrests.

During the 30-hour counting period in 2018, four people were killed and 220 injured statewide in Missouri over the holiday in 437 traffic crashes. Over the 2018 July Fourth holiday, troopers arrested 40 people for driving while intoxicated.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated nine fatal traffic crashes occurring within the 2019 July Fourth counting period. The Belton Police Department, Springfield Police Department, and St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department each investigated one fatality.

There were no fatalities on Wednesday or Thursday during the counting period.

Two people died in traffic crashes on Friday in Cass County and St. Louis County.

Six people, including a Clarkton woman, died in traffic crashes on Saturday. Leslie W. Bullow, 69, of Clarkton, Mo., died when the vehicle he was driving ran off the right side of the roadway, returned to the roadway at which time he overcorrected and the vehicle overturned. The crash occurred in Dunklin County on Missouri Highway 25 north of Clarkton. Dunklin County Coroner James Powell pronounced Bullow dead at the scene. Bullow was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Van V. Stephenson, 11, died when the vehicle in which he was a passenger traveled off the left side of the roadway, struck an embankment, and began overturning before coming to rest on its top in the median. The crash occurred in Perry County on Interstate 55 south of Missouri Route M. Perry County Coroner William Bohnert pronounced Stephenson dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. The driver of the vehicle sustained moderate injuries; he was wearing a seat belt. Three other passengers in the vehicle sustained serious injuries in the crash; they were not wearing seat belts. The remaining two passengers sustained minor injuries; it is unknown whether they were wearing seat belts.

The other Saturday fatalities occurred in McDonald County, Benton County, Saline County and Springfield.

Four people died on Sunday in Franklin County, Jefferson County, Belton and St. Louis.

Three people drowned over the holiday weekend. On Friday, Rebecca L. Feese, 33, of Warsaw, Mo., drowned when she attempted to wade across a low water crossing and was swept downstream.

The incidents occurred in at Truman Lake, Lake of the Ozarks and St. Francis River.