Trucker Suffers Fatal Medical Emergency

(St. Francois County, MO) A man from Fredericktown, Merle S. Crowder, is dead after suffering a medical emergency Wednesday morning while driving a diesel truck north on Highway 67 near Cash Lane, north of Bonne Terre, in St. Francois County. Troopers with the Highway Patrol say Crowder had a medical emergency just before 5 am and his truck ran off the right side of the highway crashing into a rock bluff near the Big River Bridge. Crowder was pronounced dead at the scene. Traffic had to be rerouted to Cash Lane for a time.