Winter sightseeing causes I-55 crash

Before she heard her husband scream from the passenger seat, Anna Gathard was admiring "beautiful, ice-covered trees," as she drove down Interstate 55 on Thursday traveling to Gulf Shores, Ala.

"They were so pretty, there in the hills with the sun on them," said the 58-year-old Springfield, Ill., resident. "I guess I got distracted. I didn't even see that we were coming up fast on a semi."

Her husband, 64-year-old Dick Gathard, did.

"He yelled for me to watch out for the truck," she said. "I had the car on cruise so I wouldn't be worried about speeding. I hit the gas instead of the brake. I just feel so bad that I ruined our vacation."

Their vacation plans are on permanent hold after the accident Thursday morning, which involved Gathard driving her 1999 Lumina into the rear of a tractor-trailer, smashing the front of the Lumina before sending it spiraling into the median.

Dick Gathard was admitted to St. Francis Medical Center and his wife said he has a "badly broken right foot." She sustained no serious injuries, she said. St. Francis officials confirmed that Dick Gathard was admitted to the hospital and in "good" condition.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the vehicle driven by Anna Gathard struck the tractor-trailer driven by Terry Finger of Perryville, Mo., about eight miles north of Jackson in the southbound lane.

The accident was reported by another driver at about 9:20 a.m., the patrol said. Finger suffered no serious injuries and was not taken to the hospital, the patrol said.

"We had a few scary moments, that's for sure," said the Gathard's son-in-law, Joe McCoy.

McCoy saw the accident happen from a quarter-mile distance through the rearview mirror of the car he was traveling in with the Gathard's daughter and grandson.

"They just hit the back of the semi," McCoy said from the accident scene as he gathered belongings from the wrecked car. "We didn't know how it happened. They just hit it. Then they skidded across the road and into the median. We were scared, to say the least."

Speaking from her husband's hospital room, Anna Gathard was still upset hours later.

"It just happened so fast," she said. "I couldn't understand. I said, 'Dick, we're going faster, I don't have any brakes.' I was hitting the gas. Our daughter was up ahead and of course it was very traumatic for her. It just seems so stupid."

Gathard said they will probably be in town for a few days, while her husband's broken foot is set and until he is ready to travel.

They both were wearing seat belts.

"If we hadn't been, I'm sure we'd be at the morgue instead of here," Gathard said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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