AREA MAN DROWNS; FIVE DIE ON ROADS

A Perryville, Mo., man drowned and five people died on Cape Girardeau area highways over the Labor Day weekend, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Roger A. Brewer, 32, of Perryville drowned Sunday afternoon in the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve, Mo., after yelling several times for help, police said.

The Missouri State Water Patrol said Brewer was swimming out from a sandbar when he surfaced, yelled for help, then went under.

The patrol said witnesses thought Brewer was joking. He was not wearing a flotation device.

A 19-year-old Ellsinore, Mo., woman died Friday night after her car left the roadway and struck a tree near Poplar Bluff, Mo.

The accident happened around 10:15 p.m. as Nicole Schrieber was eastbound on County Road 415, 10 miles west of Poplar Bluff.

In Scott County, a Charleston, Mo., man died after a Peoria, Ill., driver pulled out in front of him, police said.

The accident happened about 1:40 p.m. Saturday on Highway 77, four miles east of Benton, Mo.

Police said a U-Haul truck driven by Carroll Lindsey, 41, of Peoria, pulled out in front of a 1995 Chevrolet pickup driven by Raymond Burton, 43, of Charleston.

Burton was airlifted to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau and was later taken to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis where he was pronounced dead.

A St. Peters, Mo., man died after the motorcycle he was driving crossed the centerline and struck an oncoming motorcycle in Iron County Saturday afternoon, police said.

Ron D. Berkel, 58, was driving a 1996 Honda motorcycle northbound on Route N, two miles south of Graniteville, Mo., around 3:30 p.m., when he crossed the centerline and collided with a 2000 Honda motorcycle driven by Maurice W. Lehmkuhl, 53, of Beardstown, Ill.

Lehmkuhl and a passenger, Anna L. Lehmkuhl, 43, were taken to Parkland Hospital in Farmington, Mo.

Berkel was taken by ambulance to Mineral Area Hospital in Park Hills, Mo., where he was later pronounced dead, police said.

A Theodosia, Mo., man died after a car accident three miles east of Doniphan, Mo., Friday night, according to police.

Donald L. Ganes, 62, failed to stop at an intersection on Highway 160 and pulled into the path of a car driven by Clarence D. Knight, 50, of Fairdealing, Mo., police said. Knight was taken by ambulance to Ripley County Memorial Hospital in Doniphan.

Police said a single-vehicle accident in Stoddard County Saturday afternoon left an Illinois man dead.

Donald L. Skelton, 43, of Olney, Ill., was westbound on U.S. 60 three miles east of Fisk, Mo., around 2:45 p.m., when his 1986 Chevrolet van ran off the north side of the road, skidded across the highway and overturned. Police said Skelton was thrown from the van.

Other accidents around the region during the weekend resulted in injuries.

A 20-year-old Tennessee woman was taken to the hospital after her car struck a car parked in the passing lane of Interstate 155 at 11:20 p.m. Friday, according to police.

A 1975 Chevrolet, driven by Jeffrey C. Hatch, 40, of Dyersburg, Tenn., was disabled in the passing lane of the interstate, police said, when it was hit in the rear by a 1989 Pontiac Sunbird driven by Corey V. Brook of Jackson, Tenn.

Brook was taken by ambulance to Pemiscot County Memorial Hospital in Hayti, Mo. Hatch was not in his car at the time of the accident and was not injured.

Three Poplar Bluff boys were taken to an area hospital Friday after their car collided with a car driven by Chicago man, police said.

The incident happened around 8:30 a.m. four miles north of Poplar Bluff. A 1966 Ford driven southbound by Kyle B. Sandlin, 16, crossed the centerline and struck a northbound 1995 Cadillac driven by Ern M. Richardson, 60, of Chicago.

Sandlin and two passengers, Jeremiah Carman, 16, and John Stevenson, 15, were taken to Three Rivers Healthcare South Campus. Richardson was taken to Three Rivers Healthcare North Campus.

An accident Monday involving a grain truck resulted in a Matthews, Mo., man being taken to the hospital.

Police said Wayne L. Stallings, 31, of Matthews, was southbound on Route AA, eight miles south of Sikeston, around 3:50 p.m., when his truck, a 1983 Ford grain truck, ran off the roadway and overturned.

Stallings was taken to Missouri Delta Hospital in Sikeston.

A 19-year-old Perryville woman was taken to the hospital Monday after her car overturned in Perry County.

Police said Megan E. Tarrillion was traveling southbound on Route B a half mile from Route K around 3:30 p.m., when her 1993 Dodge left the road, struck a mailbox and overturned.

Tarrillion was taken to Perry County Hospital in Perryville.

A Farmington man was injured Friday afternoon when he was thrown from the back of a truck after the load of wood he was riding on shifted.

Police said James J. Smith, 35, was taken by ambulance to Mineral Area Hospital in Farmington after the accident, which happened around 5 p.m. on U.S. Highway 67, just south of state Highway 32 South.

A 60-year-old Poplar Bluff truck driver was taken to a St. Louis Hospital Friday after a three-truck accident on Interstate 64 east of Mason, Mo., police said.

Carl L. Bazzel was driving a freight truck westbound, when around 9 a.m. Bazzel stopped for congestion on the highway and was struck from behind by a truck that had been struck from behind by a third truck.

Bazzel was taken to a hospital in Des Peres, Mo.