HOLIDAY DEADLY ON STATE ROADS

NEW MADRID -- Traffic accidents on Missouri roads killed at least six people over the weekend, including two in Southeast Missouri.

And a Chicago man has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death Friday of an East Prairie woman who died in a three-car accident.

A Saginaw, Mich. woman was killed and seven others injured Sunday morning when the van they were in ran off the road and overturned several times.

Doris Simmons, 55, of Saginaw was killed after she was thrown from the van, said the Missouri Highway Patrol. She was not wearing a seat belt, the patrol said.

The driver of the van, Elbert Wooten, 31, of Atlanta, Ga., was taken to Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston and later transferred to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center in Memphis, Tenn.

The accident occurred at 6:25 a.m. along Interstate 55, a mile and a half south of the New Madrid overpass.

The patrol said the van struck the median and became airborne, overturning several times before it came to rest on its right side.

Others injured were:

Evelyn Wooten, 26, of Saginaw. She was reported in stable condition late Sunday at Missouri Delta Medical Center.

Twins Chawain and Jawain Wooten, 5, of Saginaw. Both reported moderate injuries and were kept for observation Sunday night at Missouri Delta.

Brian Middlebrook, 32, also of Saginaw was reported in stable condition at Missouri Delta.

Kimberly Jones, 25, of Saginaw, was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau where she was treated and released.

Richard Baskin, 1-year-old son of Kimberly Jones, was taken by helicopter to Southeast Hospital. He reportedly had moderate injuries and was in fair condition late Sunday at Southeast.

The patrol said Baskin was in a child restraint seat, but none of the other passengers were wearing seat belts.

A strikingly similar accident, which left a woman dead and seven injured, occurred near Charleston Friday night.

Napolean Emmanuel, 36, of Chicago was charged Sunday with involuntary manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license in connection with the accident, which left Linda Gail Brown Counts, 28, of East Prairie dead.

Initial reports were that Counts' car crossed the center line, struck a truck driven by Ronnie Chance and careened into the path of Emmanuel's truck.

But the patrol said Sunday that an investigation determined that Emmanuel's vehicle struck Chance's truck in the rear, forcing it to cross the center line into the path of the Counts vehicle. The patrol said Counts was not at fault in the accident.

Others injured in the accident included:

Alecia Brown, 7, of Charleston. She was transferred from intensive care Sunday to the pediatric unit at Missouri Delta and was reported in stable condition.

Melissa Brown, 14, of Charleston remained in intensive care at St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau Sunday.

Michael Brown, 9, was first taken to St. Francis but transferred Sunday to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

Chance, 34, of East Prairie, was reported in satisfactory condition Sunday at St. Francis.

In another accident Sunday in Mississippi County, three people were hurt when the car they were in collided with a tractor trailer along County Road 62, two miles west of Charleston.

Linda Warren, 55 of Bertrand and two passengers, Justin Warren, 12, and Danielle Smith, 6, both of Bertrand, were treated and released at Missouri Delta Medical Center.

The patrol said the tractor trailer, driven by Matthew Feezor, 21, of Charleston, attempted to cross the road and drove into the path of Warren's car. Feezor was unhurt, the patrol said.