Rollover crash injures Pleasant Hill man

A Lamar school administrator from Nevada saw an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer rig crash early Thursday afternoon seven miles south of Sheldon on U.S. 71 and helped extricate the trapped driver from the cab.

Sam DeLaney, a Lamar R-1 School District A+ administrator, was northbound behind the Wal-Mart truck when "you could see the smoke behind the cab and the dirt flying up," she said.

Speculating that the 2009 Freightliner rig's front axle had locked, Delaney said, "There was no stopping it."

"He was going around a curve when the truck turned onto its right side and jack-knifed. He was lucky it didn't go all the way over."

DeLaney, who has first aid training, joined a trucker who stopped at 1:25 p.m. and pulled up one side of the windshield with a crowbar, helped the trucker out and covered him for protection from temperatures in the 40s on the overcast day in Barton County.

"He just looked at me and said, 'I couldn't do anything,' and I said, 'I know,'" she said of the injured man.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Company D Sgt. Travis Polodna of Vernon and Barton counties reported Thursday night that the driver, 55-year-old Michael C. Onkka of Pleasant Hill, was taken by ambulance to Nevada Regional Medical Center for treatment of an eight-inch gash in his left thigh, abrasions on his left arm and other injuries. Polodna said Onkka was wearing a seatbelt.

He classified the driver's injuries as "moderate."

DeLaney said Onkka told her that he was en route to the Harrisonville Wal- Mart with a load of canned milk. She added that it took emergency responders 20 minutes to arrive.

DeLaney said Barton County sheriff's deputies and volunteer firefighters with the Lamar and Sheldon fire departments also came to the scene, where traffic was partially blocked and the road slickened with oil and antifreeze.