SCOTT CITY MAN HURT IN ILLINOIS ACCIDENT

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. - A Scott County man was seriously injured early Monday morning when the car he was driving ran off Illinois Route 146 and came to rest in a flooded farm field, one mile east of here.

Illinois State Police at Ullin identified the driver as Floyd K. Benson, 61, of Scott City. Benson was listed in serious condition in the surgical intensive care unit at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Police said a passenger in the car, Martha Smith, 57, of Cape Girardeau, was not injured.

Authorities said Benson was traveling eastbound on Route 146 when the accident occurred at about 2:44 a.m.

Benson and Smith were rescued by passing motorists who had to wade through several feet of water to reach the flooded car. The water is an accumulation of seepwater and rainwater inside the East Cape Girardeau-Clear Creek Levee District.