An 82-year-old Festus man died Tuesday, Feb. 25, in a crash on southbound I-55 near Richardson Road in Arnold. The interstate was backed up for hours as a second accident occurred less than two hours following the fatal crash, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
At about 4 p.m. Tuesday, the man was driving a 2012 GMC Acadia and ran off the right side of the interstate. The SUV hit a support post and spun before stopping facing north, the report said.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene, at 4:25 p.m. The highway patrol did not release the man’s name.
He was wearing a seat belt. The Acadia was totaled, the report said.
The patrol reported a second accident on I-55 near Richardson Road at 5:55 p.m. The second crash involved three vehicles, and a 62-year-old Farmington man was transported to Mercy Hospital South in south St. Louis County with a minor injury.
The Farmington man was driving a 2009 Toyota Camry south on the interstate, and an adult was driving a Ford F-150 in front of the car. As the vehicles approached slower traffic, the Camry struck the pickup and then swerved into the path of a trailer attached to a 2023 Freightliner Cascadia, which a 66-year-old Prairie, Miss., man was driving, the report said.
The patrol did not provide additional information about the adult driving the F-150.
The Rock Township Ambulance District transported the Farmington man to the hospital. No injuries were reported for the drivers of the pickup or the tractor-trailer.
The Farmington man was not wearing a seat belt, but the tractor-trailer driver was wearing a seat belt. It was not known if the pickup driver was wearing a seat belt, the patrol reported.
The Camry was totaled, and the pickup and tractor-trailer each had minor damage, according to the report.