Woman charged in injury crash with no car seat
Four people including a baby were injured in a July 19 crash on CC Highway just into Howell County near the Ozark County line. The driver is now being charged with endangering the welfare of a child because there was no car seat in the vehicle at the time of crash.
Addison Skains of Drury has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in Howell County court in connection with a July 18 crash on Highway CC near the Howell/Ozark County line that led to the injuries of herself, two teens and a baby. She is scheduled to appear in court there on Nov. 27 for her initial hearing.
According to the probable cause statement filed by Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Trooper W. Wadlington, the officer was notified that there had been an injury crash on Highway CC around 1 a.m. July 18.
“I made contact with the Ozark County Ambulance EMT who advised me that there were four injured occupants in the vehicle. I was advised that one of the occupants... was a six month old child,” Wadlington wrote in the statement.
Once on scene, Wadlington spoke with Skains, who was identified as the driver and was sitting in the back of an ambulance. The trooper asked Skains what caused the crash, and the woman reportedly told the officer that a deer was in the road, and she swerved to try and miss it.
“While investigating the crash, I could not find any evidence of a car seat or any type of child restraint in or around the Ford... I also noticed that the safety belt of the front left seat of the Ford was locked in the unused position, which is evidence that Skains did not have her safety belt on at the time of the crash,” Wadlington wrote.
The MSHP online crash report said that the four Drury residents, Akins, two 15-year-old girls and a baby younger than 1 year old, were transported by ambulances to area hospitals after sustaining moderate to severe injuries in the crash. Skains was reportedly driving westbound on CC Higway, about six miles east of Dora, in a 2001 Ford Focus with the two teens and baby as a passenger. At around 12:50 a.m., she traveled off the left side of the roadway and struck a tree.
The two teens were wearing seatbelts, but the report shows that the baby and Skains were without safety devices.
Skains and one 15-year-old girl sustained injuries classified as moderate, and they were transported to Ozarks Healthcare in West Plains by ambulance. One 15-year-old and the infant child sustained injuries classified as serious, and they were transported by helicopter ambulance to Cox South Hospital in Springfield.
The vehicle was a total loss and was towed from the scene by Duke’s Towing.