Gasconade County Republican

Denver F. Pierce, 79, of Vichy, Mo., told Sgt. David Spurgeon of the Missouri State Highway Patrol that he was reaching for the cell phone his passenger was handing him at 10:50 a.m. Tuesday and did not see a Gasconade County road crew’s dump truck stopped on Highway 28 waiting to turn left onto Meyer Road.

“I wasn’t gonna hit him,” said Pierce describing how he swerved to the right, ran off the road into the ditch, and went airborne over a driveway culvert pipe in his 1988 GMC pickup truck. His passengers, John H. Williams, 55, and his wife, Connie R. Williams, 48, of Belle, suffered minor injuries and were taken by Owensville Area Ambulance District personnel for treatment at Mercy Hospital-Washington. Pierce was pulling a trailer carrying a junked Mercury. All three wore seat belts. County workers were not involved in the crash.