In about a 24-hour period, the Marion County Sheriff?s office responded to three separate vehicle accidents, all with only minor injuries.
Two of the three were one-vehicle crashes and the third collision, involving a semi and SUV, could have been fatal if not for the quick thinking of the semi driver, according to an official in the sheriff?s office.
The first incident happened at about 10:30 a.m. when a 2000 Pontiac, driven by Jenae Koontz, 20, of Hillsboro, traveling west on 190th at about Old Mill Road, hit a ditch and overturned.
According to the report, the reason why Koontz left the roadway is unknown, but she and infant passenger Bentley Schafer, also of Hillsboro, suffered minor injuries. Both were taken by ambulance to St. Luke Hospital in Marion.
Both Koontz and Schafer were wearing seat belts at the time of the accident.
The second, one-vehicle accident occurred about 3:30 p.m. south of the blacktop road between Hillsboro and Marion on Nighthawk Road.
The driver of a 2000 Chevy Impala, Katlynn Shaft, 18, of Marion, was northbound on Nighthawk when the car left the roadway, went into a ditch and hit a culvert.
After the car stopped, according to the accident report, it then caught fire.
Shaft was transported by Marion EMS to St. Luke Hospital for treatment of her injuries. She was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash.
The third injury accident involved two vehicles at about 11 p.m. Saturday.
According to the report, the collision happened about one-half mile east of Peabody on U.S. Highway 50 when the driver of a 2006 Honda Pilot traveling west apparently fell asleep and started veering into an oncoming 2007 Freightliner truck traveling eastbound.
The driver of the Honda was Cecelia Schmidt of Wichita.
The semi driver, Lloyd E. Ballou, 64, of Junction City, told authorities he saw the vehicle drifting into his lane and moved off to the shoulder as far as he could to avoid a head-on collision.
The result, according to the report, was that the Honda sideswiped the semi causing only minor injuries to Schmidt.
Peabody?s EMS and fire department arrived at the scene, but Schmidt refused medical treatment. The semi driver was not injured.
Both drivers were wearing seat belts.
