A 25-year-old St. Robert woman and her 24-year-old passenger were both thrown from their pickup truck after it careened off Texas Road west of Tanner Drive in Pulaski County early Sunday morning, leaving them with serious injuries that required two separate medical helicopters to reach a trauma center more than 80 miles away.
The crash happened around 12:08 a.m. Sunday, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The woman was driving a 2020 Toyota Tacoma eastbound when the truck ran off the left side of the road, then crossed back before veering off the right side, striking a ditch and two trees, as reported by KRCG. Neither the driver nor her passenger, a 24-year-old man from Weatherford, Texas, was wearing a seat belt at the time, per the highway patrol report.
Both were ejected from the vehicle in the wreck. The severity of their injuries triggered a rare dual air-ambulance response: the driver was flown by MU Health Care's Staff for Life helicopter, known as MU 2, while her passenger was carried by Mercy Life Line. Both aircraft delivered the pair to University Hospital in Columbia, which serves as central Missouri's only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I Trauma Center — the reason both patients were flown so far past closer rural hospitals, according to MU Health Care.
A Total Loss, and a Familiar Statistic
The Tacoma was declared a total loss and towed from the scene by Onsite Towing of Waynesville, per the patrol's crash report. The investigation drew a notable level of technical scrutiny: Trooper K.L. Francom led the case with assistance from Corporal C.C. Marlow, MSHP Major Crash Reconstructionist Trooper E.A. Ferrel, and the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office, according to the official patrol incident report.
The lack of seat belts sits inside a well-documented statewide pattern. Nearly two-thirds of Missouri's traffic fatalities consistently involve unbelted drivers or passengers, the highway patrol's safety data shows. Under Missouri Revised Statutes § 307.178, seat belt use is required for front-seat occupants, but enforcement is secondary — officers cannot stop a vehicle for a seat belt violation alone, and a citation carries a maximum fine of just $10. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration research cited alongside that law found that seat belts cut the risk of fatal injury in pickup trucks by 60% and sharply reduce ejection rates, a risk factor especially relevant given pickups' higher center of gravity in rollover-prone ditch collisions.
Rural Roadway With a Rough History
Texas Road east of St. Robert has seen serious loss-of-control wrecks before. In May 2017, a commercial concrete truck overturned into an embankment on the road, requiring extended extrication and an emergency air transport, according to the Pulaski County Daily News. Sunday's crash adds to a string of severe traffic incidents this year investigated by MSHP Troop I, which is headquartered in Rolla and covers six south-central Missouri counties: Pulaski, Phelps, Laclede, Crawford, Dent, and Maries.
Just over two weeks ago, Troop I recorded its 22nd traffic fatality of 2026 when a 19-year-old St. Robert woman was struck and killed while walking on Highway 17 in Pulaski County, as Hoodline reported in its piece on the teen pedestrian's death. It remains unclear whether speed, road conditions, or impairment played a role in Sunday's crash, and updated medical conditions for the driver and her passenger have not been released.
