TIRE COMES OFF VEHICLE, INJURES ROADSIDE WORKER

QULIN, Mo. -- A Southeast Missouri man was injured Monday when a tire came loose from a vehicle and struck him while he was working by the roadside.

Johnny Hays, 58, of Dudley, Mo., received serious injuries in the accident, which happened at 1:20 p.m. on Highway 53 about a half-mile south of Qulin.

Hays was taken by ambulance to Three Rivers South campus in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and then transferred by Air Evac to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

A report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the left rear tire of a vehicle driven by John Jones, 54, of Malden, Mo., came loose and struck Hays.