An 18-year-old Clarence man was seriously injured and airlifted to Columbia late Thursday night after his pickup truck ran off a rural Shelby County road and struck a tree. The crash happened around 11:44 p.m. on Shelby County Road 305, about three miles east of Clarence, and left the truck a total loss.
According to the WHIG, the teen was driving a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado southbound when the pickup ran off the left side of the roadway and struck a tree. As KTTN reported, the Missouri State Highway Patrol pegged the time of the crash at approximately 11:44 p.m. on Thursday.
He was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash, per the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and sustained serious injuries, the WHIG report notes. He was transported by Hannibal Regional Survival Flight to University Hospital in Columbia for treatment, according to KHQA’s account of the crash.
Four Agencies Responded to the Scene
The Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the crash with help from three local agencies: the Shelby County Volunteer Fire Department, the Shelbina Police Department, and the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department, the WHIG report states. The Silverado was considered a total loss and was towed from the scene by Leonard Autoworks, per the same account.
The circumstances of the crash — what caused the truck to leave the roadway, and the driver’s current condition — have not been detailed beyond the initial reports. No citation or charge information has been reported either.
A Second Shelby County Crash Days Earlier
The wreck near Clarence came just days after another single-vehicle crash elsewhere in Shelby County. A 16-year-old Shelbyville boy suffered minor injuries early on Nov. 8 when his vehicle struck a tree north of Shelbina, according to KTTN.
That crash occurred around 12:20 a.m. on Shelby County Road 452, roughly two miles north of Shelbina, as reported by Hannibal.net. The outlet reported the juvenile was driving a northbound 1977 Jeep when he failed to negotiate a curve, sending the vehicle off the left side of the road and into a tree. Unlike the Clarence teen, that driver was not wearing a safety device at the time of the collision and sustained only minor injuries before being taken by private vehicle to Samaritan Hospital in Macon for treatment.
