Autopsy: Heart attack or blood clot killed driver

The death of a Canadian man involved in a traffic accident on Interstate 55 Thursday was most likely caused by a heart attack or blood clot, said Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton, not trauma due to the crash.

Clifton said his opinion is based on an autopsy performed shortly after Tadeusz A. Wasikiewicz, 56, of Burlington, Ontario, was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Medical Center and reports from the Missouri State Highway Patrol at the time of the accident. The autopsy did not indicate trauma from the accident as the cause of death, however other factors such as a heart attack, seizure or blood clot could be revealed through a pathology study which is being undertaken.

Clifton said the toxicology report could take several weeks to complete.

Clifton said he informed Wasikiewicz's family of his findings Thursday.

"From what highway patrol heard from witnesses, he was driving fine and veered to the left and there was no indication he braked or swerved," Clifton said.

Based on the witness reports and autopsy, Clifton said Wasikiewicz could have become incapacitated somehow before the accident.

Wasikiewicz was northbound on I-55 near Fruitland when the tractor-trailer he was driving ran off the roadway into a median, crossed southbound lanes and overturned on the southbound shoulder after striking a guardrail at 8:05 a.m., according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Wasikiewicz was airlifted to Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The highway patrol and Cape Girardeau police responded to the accident, which closed the southbound lanes for several hours and snarled traffic during rush hour.

No one else was injured in the accident, said Cape Girardeau police spokesman Jason Selzer, and there was no indication of foul play.

Wasikiewicz was hauling a load of 50-pound bags of ear corn in a refrigerated truck, said highway patrol Cpl. Douglas McDaniel.

Chemicals from the refrigeration unit and diesel fuel leaked into the cab and onto the ground, McDaniel said, requiring hours of cleanup by environmental crews.

Clifton said sometimes there are no immediate answers as to why someone dies.

"Sometimes you don't know what happened; someone could have a seizure of some sort," he said.