Young, unknown couples ‘did everything right’ when helping driver in July 31 rollover accident


Dora fire chief Monte Shipley, left, Chris Hammett with Eastern Douglas County VFD, and DVFD captain John Stanton were among the emergency personnel who responded to a rollover crash July 31 on Highway 14 in Vanzant. Also pictured are Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Prater, back to camera, and an unidentified driver from Ed’s Towing from Mountain Grove. A Vanzant woman was injured in the crash. Photo courtesy of Eastern Douglas County VFD.

First responders from Dora Volunteer Fire Department assisted Eastern Douglas County VFD and the Missouri State Highway Patrol in working a July 31 rollover accident on Highway 14 about 6 miles north of Dora that injured a Vanzant woman. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol online crash report, 20-year-old Charlie Whanger of Vanzant was moderately injured in the wreck and was taken by air ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Springfield. Whanger was reportedly traveling westbound on Highway 14 around 4:35 a.m. in a 2003 Dodge Ram truck when she ran off the right side of the roadway and overturned. The vehicle, a total loss, was towed from the scene. 

In a Facebook post the same morning as the accident, Dora VFD posted that two young couples on their way back from a trip in Florida were the first ones to come across the accident. 

“Their actions, from the time they found the accident and the vehicle operator, need to be recognized. We have learned that the operator’s injuries are severe. Moving her or allowing her to move from the ditch would have more than likely caused greater injury, if not permanent paralysis. They called 911, got her covered with a blanket, and two of them got down in that ditch with her, stopped the bleeding, and prevented further movement. They did everything right. In the chaos that followed, they got away before we got their names. They were driving a white, stretched van, headed west. If anyone knows who they are, they are owed a hearty thank you from every one of the medical people involved this morning.”

Ozark County Times

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