Man run over by truck while unloading boat
Daniel W. Hamby, 55, of Dora, was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, after sustaining injuries when he was run over by his own truck at the Bridges Creek access, locally known as Stump Hole, on Norfork Lake at 5:30 a.m. Sunday. The Missouri State Highway Patrol online report says Hamby had just finished unloading his boat from a trailer when a mechanical issue caused the 2014 Dodge Ram truck and trailer to roll backward down the ramp and hit him, running over his leg. According to the Ozark County Sheriff’s dispatcher log, Hamby made the call to the sheriff’s office to report the incident and ask for help. He was transported to BRMC by ambulance. However, Facebook posts indicate Hamby is now recovering in a St. Louis hospital. The Times could not confirm that report. This photo, posted to the Tecumseh Volunteer Fire Department Facebook page Sunday evening, shows Hamby’s truck and trailer under the water with its headlights still illuminated and the boat floating nearby. The truck was later removed by a wrecker, according to the MSHP report, and was towed to Lawing Recycling in West Plains.
Update on this story published in our March 4 edition:
Dan Hamby, who was injured Sunday while unloading his boat into Norfork Lake at what is known locally at the Stump Hole access, is now hospitalized in Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. His uncle, Don Hamby, told the Times Wednesday that Dan suffered a broken fibula in his lower right leg in the incident, and the leg is badly bruised and swollen from being run over by his 2014 Dodge Ram truck.
Don said Dan had backed the trailer into the water and was out of the truck, unloading his fishing boat off the trailer, when the truck, which was running and in park, started rolling backward. Dan reached inside the open door to push on the brake with his hand, but in the process, the still-moving truck’s front tire ran over Dan’s right leg and dragged him into the water. He told his uncle he was wet “head to toe,” but fortunately, he was able to get out of the water and his cell phone still worked, so he was able to call for help.
He was taken by ambulance to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas, where he was stabilized. While the broken leg is a serious injury, the more worrying concern was Dan’s underlying heart condition and his dependence on an implanted left ventricular assist device (LVAD), which is powered by an external battery that will fail if it gets wet. Dan was wearing a shower bag on the battery Sunday, and it apparently kept the battery from getting wet when he was submerged in the lake water. However, Barnes is the only hospital in Missouri equipped and staffed to handled LVAD treatment and procedures. So Dan was transferred to St. Louis, where he remains for LVAD attention and other issues.