Driver escapes serious injury in rollover crash

A Cape Girardeau woman escaped serious injury Thursday afternoon when the sport-utility vehicle she was driving struck a parked car and overturned near the intersection of Independence and Lorimier streets.

Molly Pate said she was driving east on Independence Street on her way back from a shopping trip when she swerved to avoid a westbound vehicle that was coming down the middle of the street.

"I swerved. I thought I hit my brake. I didn't squeal tires or anything," she said.

Pate skinned her hand and elbow in the crash but was otherwise uninjured. Her 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer and the Oldsmobile Aurora it struck were another story.

The TrailBlazer hit the Aurora, shoving it into a power pole several feet away, and flipped over, coming to rest on the driver's side.

"Some of these vehicles, especially these SUVs, have a tendency to go off-center fairly easily, even at moderate speeds," said assistant chief Mark Hasheider of the Cape Girardeau Fire Department.

Pate said the accident happened so quickly that she didn't get a good look at the oncoming vehicle.

"It was like a blur," she said. "I couldn't tell you if it was blue or green. It was a dark color."

Pate said she narrowly avoided a head-on collision with another driver last week on a curve near her home, prompting her to change the route she takes to work.

"I'm just angry. ... I wish the police were around and seen these people driving in the middle of the road," she said. "I'm so sick of it."

Alyssa Frerker's parents own the Aurora.

Frerker, a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, said she had stayed up late studying Wednesday night and was taking a nap at the time of the accident.

"I heard the crash, but I just honestly didn't think anything of it," she said.

Sgt. Rick Schmidt of the Cape Girardeau Police Department surveyed the damage as he waited for a tow truck to clear the vehicles.

"I bet that was a heck of a ride," he said as he waited for a tow truck to clear the vehicles. "That would scare the bejesus out of you."

Schmidt said Pate's safety was more important than the damage.

"Cars, we can fix. That can be replaced," he said, gesturing toward the cracked Ameren pole. " ... They've got plenty of poles. As long as she's fine, we're good."

The accident was still under investigation Thursday afternoon.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Independence and Lorimier streets, Cape Girardeau, MO