Wreck leaves Chaffee teen seriously hurt

A 14-year-old Chaffee, Mo., boy was listed in serious condition at a Cape Girardeau hospital Thursday after the car he was riding in ran off the road and into a ditch, police said.

Ronnie H. Woods, an eighth-grader at Chaffee Junior High School, was taken to Saint Francis Medical Center after the 11:15 a.m. wreck on Highway 77, about four miles south of Chaffee, according to a preliminary report by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe was being driven in the southbound lane by Tommy Woods, 51, when he lost control of the vehicle and it ran off the left side of the road. The elder Woods sustained only minor injuries.

Neither occupant was wearing a seat belt.