VAN BUREN TWP. — Four people, including two children, were taken to a hospital on Easter after they were involved in a crash at eXplore Brown County.
Police and EMS responded to the outdoor adventure retreat just before 3 p.m. April 4. A 1952 Willys pickup was carrying eight people when the driver lost control and crashed into two trees and a trailer, according to an accident report by Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Zaccary Sheppard.
Sheppard found two girls, ages 8 and 12, sitting in their father’s truck. Their father told police that the 8-year-old was ejected from the Willys pickup. She reported facial pain and feeling tired, the accident report states. The 12-year-old reported shoulder pain and had a large abrasion across her upper back, the report states.
The father told police the 8-year-old was riding on the left side of the vehicle on the running board with a rope going across her back to restrain her. When the vehicle hit the tree, she was ejected. The 12-year-old was on the right side running board when she was injured, according to the report.
Another passenger told Sheppard that the driver lost control of the truck and it crashed once it left the path. The woman said her mother, 64-year-old Vickie Williams, of Wellington, Kansas, and her father, 63-year-old William Joseph, of Trafalgar, were also injured.
Williams told Sheppard her back and ribs were hurting. She had fallen on the floor of the truck when the crash happened.
Joseph told Sheppard he had back pain from getting tossed around. The two were taken to the hospital by ambulance, the report states.
Two other passengers sustained minor injuries and were checked out by EMS at the scene.
A tour guide who was following behind the vehicle on an all-terrain vehicle said that the truck slipped, possibly out of gear, and the driver, 17-year-old Paige Moore of Nashville, was unable to retain control. Moore reportedly crashed into a tree on the driver’s side before overcorrecting and crashing into another tree on the passenger side. Then, the vehicle crashed into a green trailer at the bottom of the hill, according to the report.
The tour guide riding the ATV reported seeing the 8-year-old be ejected after the vehicle hit the first tree.
Moore told police she did not want to drive the vehicle down the hill and had told another employee that she didn’t want to. She said she hit a bump and lost control, causing the crash.
The owner of the vehicle, Gary Bartels, said Moore was a newer employee and should not have been driving; the more veteran employee should have driven the truck instead of the ATV, the police report said.
