Killeen man nearly dies in Hwy. 71 accident A 42-year-old Killeen man is lucky to be alive following a one-vehicle accident on Hwy. 71 that occurred at 12:50 p.m. Tuesday approximately 15 miles southeast of Brady. After being flown to Brackenridge hospital in Austin, doctors were forced to amputate the mans left hand, just above the wrist but were able to save his right arm despite severe compound fractures. Marc Wasson, a resident of Killeen, was driving his service truck east on Hwy. 71 when his vehicle came into contact with the guard rail at the bridge that crosses Lost Creek. The truck ran up onto the guardrail and almost went over the rail into the dry creek bed before it came back onto the roadway. The truck eventually came to rest on its side in the middle of the highway with Wasson trapped inside. There was significant damage to the vehicle. The cab of the truck actually came loose from the rest of the chassis, and he was trapped inside with serious injuries to both arms and his head, said Brady Fire Chief Lyle Daniel. The injuries nearly cost Wasson his life but Brady fire/EMS crews were able to extricate him and transport him to the Llano Hospital where they met Starflight Air Ambulance out of Austin which took him on to Brackenridge. In a phone conversation Wednesday morning with Wassons father, he stated that Marc had undergone emergency surgery Tuesday afternoon with five surgeons working to save his life and his limbs. They had to amputate his left hand, but they were able to save his right arm and he is being moved out of ICU today, said Norm Wasson, Marcs father. He doesnt remember a thing about the accident. The accident shut down traffic on Hwy. 71 for approximately five hours. The size of the truck involved in the accident required a heavy-duty wrecker to remove it from the scene. We actually had to enlist the use of a large front-end loader from one of the sand plants to right the truck so it could be moved from the highway, said Chief Daniel. According to DPS Trooper J.W. Weaver, the exact cause of the accident has yet to be determined, but it is still under investigation.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 04:10:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015