A 37-year-old Festus man was seriously injured March 4 in a traffic accident on I-55 in Festus, said Chief Tim Lewis of the Festus Police Department.
At about 8 p.m., Douglass Paschall was driving a 2006 Dodge Dakota pickup south on I-55 and ran into a 2006 Dodge Caravan parked on the side of the interstate near Hwy. A, Lewis said.
He said no one was in the van.
“It resulted in the pickup truck overturning numerous times and ejecting (Paschall),” Lewis said. “He was not wearing a seat belt.”
Lewis said Paschall had severe injuries to his left arm and was airlifted to Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
“Officers applied a tourniquet to the arm,” he said. “They may have saved his life.”
Paschall was listed in fair condition on Tuesday, March 8, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Lewis said the pickup and the van were both totaled.
He said “flying debris” from the accident struck a southbound tractor-trailer and caused minor damage to it.