TEXAS COUNTY, Mo. — A St. Louis man died and five others were injured when his pickup truck crashed into oncoming traffic Monday afternoon in Texas County.
According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the deadly crash happened just before 5 p.m. Monday on U.S. Route 63 at Gardner Road, near Cabool. James Russo, 51, was driving northbound on U.S. 63 in his Ford F150 pickup truck when he crossed the center of the roadway, crashing into a Volkswagen Atlas SUV and a Kenworth tractor-trailer before he was ejected.
The tractor-trailer traveled off the right side of the roadway, overturning and coming to a rest upside down, according to MSHP.
The Texas County coroner pronounced Russo dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.
The truck driver, a 51-year-old man from Connersville, Indiana, suffered minor injuries in the crash and was taken to an area hospital. The occupants of the SUV — a 43-year-old man, a 43-year-old woman and two 12-year-old boys, all from Fort Mitchell, Alabama — suffered minor injuries and were taken via ambulance to a nearby hospital.
The Cabool and Houston fire departments and the Texas County Sheriff's Department assisted MSHP troopers at the scene.
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