Poplar Bluff man in Cape Girardeau hospital after being run over outside bar

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff man is in critical condition at a Cape Girardeau hospital after he was run over Monday night by a vehicle apparently spinning its tires on top of him.

Authorities believe Gary Eugene Lawrence was seriously injured by a man who he earlier had told to leave a downtown bar after the man had created a disturbance there.

The man, identified as Jerry Oliver Stewart, "almost killed my brother ¿ for being barred from a bar," said Cheryl Duffy " ¿ My brother did not fight with him. He did his job and walked away."

Duffy said her brother's condition hasn't improved since his arrival at Saint Francis Medical Center. He is still in critical condition, with life threatening injuries, she said.

Lawrence, 34, underwent his first surgery Monday night after he was flown to the hospital. Doctors, she said, removed one of his kidneys because the main artery to the kidney had been severed.

"They've still got him open to do the second surgery," Duffy explained. Lawrence, she said, is still bleeding internally and doctors want to check on his second kidney, as well as for other internal injuries.

"They won't know all the internal injuries until they clear all the blood from the abdomen," Duffy said.

Family members were hoping doctors could do the second surgery today, but "there's too much blood and swelling in the abdomen," she said. "They can't do it today. ¿ We're just hoping he can get in a stable enough condition so he can go through the second surgery."

When Lawrence arrived in Cape, "he was almost gone. He had 18 units of blood on the trip here from Poplar Bluff. His blood pressure was so bad he was almost gone when he got here," Duffy said.

Lawrence, she said, was initially in a coma. "They had to wait to get a response, then they put him back in a medically-induced coma."

In addition to his internal injuries, Lawrence has "road rash all over him," Duffy said. "His spine is fractured in several places. He's got a fracture on the back of his head. There might be damage to his neck; they don't know yet" because medical personnel have been unable to get a clear view of her brother's neck.

Doctors, she said, also believe Lawrence's right arm could possibly be broken. "They stapled it back together where the tires peeled out on his arm."

While Lawrence awaits surgery, Stewart, 45, of the 900 block of Vine Street sits in the Butler County jail on $500,000 cash bond.

He was charged Tuesday morning with the Class A felony of first-degree assault, the unclassified felony of armed criminal action and the Class D felony of leaving the scene of an accident by Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Paul Oesterreicher.

The charges against Stewart stem from an investigation by the Poplar Bluff Police Department into an incident, which occurred at about 9 p.m. Monday night in downtown Poplar Bluff.

"Jeanette Roberts and Kenneth Cox witnessed a white Ford, driven by Jerry Stewart, strike Gary Lawrence, on Cedar Street, near Main Street," Cpl. Aaron Decker said in his probable cause affidavit on file with the court. "Mr. Stewart then left the scene."

In her written statement, Roberts said, a man, later identified as Stewart, was talking to Lawrence on the corner when he "put (his vehicle) in drive (and) ran over Gary and then dragged Gary around the corner and ran over him."

Roberts said Stewart then allegedly backed over Lawrence again after he had run over him.

Cox's written statement described a man, believed to be Stewart, being asked to leave and making a threat with a knife as he was leaving.

"I thought everything was over, but a half-hour later, someone said that someone got run over," Cox wrote. "I ran down the corner and saw the same pickup spinning its tires ¿ over the man and hitting a red van."

Decker said he located Stewart and his vehicle, reportedly a white Ford pickup, on Second Street near Pine Street. It had maroon paint chips hanging from its left front fender and a broken driver's side window, he said.

"According to a statement from Mr. Stewart, he and Mr. Lawrence had been involved in an altercation at the Main Street Bar, 305 S. Main," Decker explained. "The altercation continued outside."

That altercation, according to Decker's report, began when Stewart's girlfriend was approached by an unknown man and offered Xanax.

Stewart, Decker said, "took offense at this" and told him to leave.

Lawrence, who was the disc jockey at the bar, "threatened to kick (Stewart) out for creating a disturbance," Decker said. "Gary and Jerry's verbal disagreement spilled out into the street.

"Jerry exhibited a large pocket knife in defense against Gary."

After the alleged argument ended, Decker said, Stewart left the area, only to return a short time later.

Upon Stewart returning, Decker said, he allegedly struck a parked van and Lawrence.

"He stated he knew he struck the van, but nothing else," Decker said. "He admitted to being the driver at the time of the accident."

Evidence at the scene, according to Decker, shows Stewart allegedly was spinning his truck tires at the time he caused serious physical injury to Lawrence.