TWO INJURED NEAR MISSISSIPPI BRIDGE

A father and his son were injured in an automobile accident Sunday afternoon near the Mississippi River bridge.

Ronald Matlock, 32, and William Ray Brown, 8, were both injured when Matlock lost control of his vehicle and ran up onto a median and struck a sign and a street light.

Matlock and Brown, both of McClure, were treated at a hospital for injuries and were released.

Cape Girardeau Police responded to the accident at 2:10 p.m., but weren't sure how the accident happened.

According to reports, Matlock lost control of his Chevy Blazer and hit a sign, shattering his windshield and a side window. Original calls to police said the vehicle had overturned, but police discounted that after seeing the accident scene at Spanish and Morgan Oak streets.

Two men standing on Morgan Oak saw the accident and said the vehicle never overturned.

The accident slowed traffic on the bridge, but police routed traffic onto Spanish Street until the vehicle was towed away and broken glass and debris was cleared from the road.

No matter how it happened, Shaniqua Farr knows how scary it can be to be in an accident. The 7-year-old was hurt in an accident last year while in a car with her grandfather.

She and her grandmother, Diana Faverty, watched as firefighters removed the child on a stretcher while waiting for an ambulance. Paramedics cleaned a cut to his forehead and checked his heart rate before the ambulance arrived.

Farr said she was injured because she wasn't wearing a seat belt, but that's unlikely to happen again. She even makes other people wear their seat belts now.

"If you don't, then she'll fuss at you until you put it on," Faverty said.

Both Matlock and Brown had been wearing seat belts, according to police.

Cape Girardeau Police responded to several other minor accidents Sunday, likely due to slick roads following a light rain earlier in the day.