Mapleton man suffers neck injury in crash

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Tribune photo/Michael Glover Bourbon County Sheriff Harold Coleman (left) and Bourbon County Deputy Sheriff John Taylor work an injury accident on Tuesday morning on 125th Street in rural Bourbon County. The driver, Rex Clarke was transported by Life Flight, suffering from an apparent neck injury.

A Mapleton man suffered a neck injury on Tuesday when his truck veered off 125th Street and struck a row of trees.

Around 10 a.m., Rex Clarke was driving a white Toyota Tundra north on 125th Street about 15 miles northwest of Fort Scott when he apparently lost control of the truck then overcorrected and slammed into a fence lined with trees.

Rex Clarke is laid on a stretcher for transport after his truck ran off the road Tuesday morning.

Clarke was first transported by ambulance to a location north of the crash site, where Life Flight transferred him to an undetermined hospital for treatment, Bourbon County Deputy Sheriffs said. The injuries are not considered life-threatening.

The crash could've been worse, authorities said. The truck barely cleared a 10 foot deep concrete culvert while it was sliding toward the fence and if the truck crashed into the culvert, Clarke may have died, deputy sheriffs said.

It's undetermined if speed played a factor in the wreck or how Clarke lost control because Kansas Highway Patrol troopers were still investigating the crash as of press time Tuesday morning.