One man was airlifted to a Springfield hospital early Sunday morning after apparently being involved in a traffic accident west of Ava.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Raymond K. Baird, 42, of Norwood, was taken to Cox South Hospital by helicopter following the 12:15 a.m. crash just west of the Ava city limits on Highway 14.
When ambulance personnel arrived on the scene of the wreck across the highway from the Ava View Heights subdivision, Baird was sitting on the edge of the roadway bleeding. A 1982 Chevrolet Silverado pickup that he had apparently been riding in was off the road in a thicket of trees.
Baird denied having been driving the truck, however, EMS personnel as well as responders from Ava Rural and City of Ava fire departments searched the area and found no other witnesses or occupants, according to Tpr. Justin Piccinino of the Highway Patrol.
The eastbound pickup crossed the centerline of the highway, ran off the left side of the roadway and hit a fence and several trees before coming to rest in a thicket of trees.
In a separate crash on Highway 181 south of Cabool in Douglas County Monday, a Willow Springs man sustained moderate injuries and was taken to Ozarks Medical Center in West Plains by ambulance.
The Highway Patrol said Robert L. Kendrick, 33, was southbound on Highway 181 in a 2001 Freightliner tractor/trailer unit when the truck ran off the right side of the road and overturned.
That crash occurred at 5:45 p.m. and was investigated by Cpl. C.R. Haden, of the Highway Patrol.
