Drivers must use caution passing farm machinery

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of April 26, an officer took a report for trespassing on St. Virginia Street.

The homeowner saw a white male on video, later identified as Tristen Sletten, cutting through her yard dragging a pressure washer. The pressure washer was found a few houses down on St. Virginia, but Sletten had already left the area.

A few days later, another officer took a theft report on St. Anne Street where the complainant said a green pressure washer had been stolen. He showed her the video of Sletten with the pressure washer and she confirmed that it had been stolen from her house.

Sletten was already in the Mississippi County Jail, having been arrested for a burglary in Lilbourn over the weekend. He was charged with theft of the pressure washer and trespassing.

Around 3:30 p.m. May 4, the New Madrid Fire Department responded to a traffic crash on Highway 61 at State Route P near Kewanee.

An SUV following a farm tractor pulled into the path of a northbound tractor-trailer and was struck in the driver’s side. The New Madrid County coroner pronounced the driver of the SUV dead at the scene, and the fire department used rescue tools to remove her from the wreckage.

During the spring and early summer, drivers need to be extra cautious when meeting farm machinery on the roads, especially in areas around highway and interstate intersections.