ST. LOUIS (AP/KMOX) — Authorities have released the names and more details about the early-morning series of crashes on an interstate near St. Louis that left three people dead.
The Missouri Highway Patrol says a trucker from Oklahoma, 66-year-old Spencer A. Perry was killed after he exited his vehicle to try and help a pair of women inside a car that his truck hit. He was killed when a SUV being driven by a 17-year-old hit him.
The women in the car who were both killed were identified as Nancy L. Hodge, 31, of Black Jack, and Jessica F. Kaplan, 33, of St. Louis. The 17-year-old was uninjured and was not identified.
Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Juston Wheetley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they encourage people who are involved in accidents to stay inside their vehicles until emergency responders arrive.
"He got out to try to render aid, and that could be considered heroic at times, but it is extremely dangerous, especially if a crash happens on the interstate," Wheetley told the Post-Dispatch. "Getting out puts your life in your own hands."
The chain-reaction accident began around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on southbound lanes of Interstate 270 at Kirkwood, the patrol said. The first crash involved a semitrailer and a car that left two people inside the passenger car dead, according to investigators.
As the truck driver got out of his rig to check on people in the car, he was hit and killed by another vehicle, troopers said.
At least two more vehicles crashed into the wreckage on the interstate, although no one was injured in those crashes. Police did not immediately release the names of those killed as they first sought to inform family members of the victims.
The crash shut down all southbound and two northbound lanes of the interstate. All lanes reopened around 6:30 a.m., but traffic along the stretch was expected to be slowed during the morning rush.
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