Scraps of my Life

What a scary phrase that is…especially when one of your loved ones was involved!

Brother-in-Law, Kenny, was involved in said accident at around midnight last night.  He’s still in the hospital in Fargo, but the docs are letting him go home tomorrow.

Here is the story…courtesy of WDAY 6 News.

Buffalo, ND (WDAY-TV) – A Bismarck woman died in a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 94 near Buffalo, North Dakota overnight that injured 7 people.

The Highway Patrol says a 59-year-old woman was driving a black Dodge pickup in the westbound lanes when she lost control, rolled through the median, and landed on a Grand Prix in the eastbound lane. An 81-year-old woman riding in the truck died in the crash.

The Grand Prix was driven by 22-year-old Eric Bahr from Fargo. 23-year-old Sara Daede, also from Fargo was a passenger, both were injured.

A Chevy Cobalt driven by 21-year-old Ashley Collins from Jamestown then hit the Grand Prix and went into the median. Collins was hurt, but a 2-year-old boy in the car was not.

The next car involved in the crash, a Ford Taurus driven by 41-year-old Billie Rauser from Walhalla, hit debris and the Grand Prix before skidding out of control and hitting a guardrail on the interstate. Rauser was injured in the crash.

Then, a semi hauling a double trailer, driven by 45-year-old Kenneth McCoy from Mott, t-boned the black pickup truck, pushing it into the Grand Prix. McCoy was also hurt in.

The semi then slid into a guard rail and bridge column supporting an overpass and one of the trailers flipped on its side.

All of the injured were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Fargo. Troopers with the Highway Patrol say one person does have serious injuries.

Lt. Brian Nieland says roads were frosted and slick at the time of the crash and that may have played a part.

A portion of the interstate was shut down because of the accident.

Kenny works for a trucking company. In the past he did freight deliveries during the day, but, this week he started his “new job” which was delivering freight filled trailers to Fargo for dispatching and returning with the freight filled trailers for local delivery during the overnight hours. He had started these new responsibilities on Monday night at 7pm…4 hour drive to Fargo, unload the freight, reload with freight intended for the areas his home office covers, and drive the 4 hours back to Richardton…making it a 12 hour workday for him.

Poor Kenny is hurting pretty bad especially on the left side where he hit the bridge support!  He’s been through every medical test imaginable today, thankfully the only significant damage is to his hand. His left hand has a lot of glass damage and requires surgery to repair tendons, nerves, etc. but it’s already infected so that has to clear up first. The hand specialist says Kenny will be out for 8 weeks after surgery, plus however long it takes for the infection to clear up.

I’m just thankful he is OK for the most part.  It’s been a scary day…I can’t imagine his poor wife getting a call at 2am saying “Hello, this is XYZ Hospital in Fargo and we have your husband here…”, every person’s worst nightmare. Scary!!!

Filed under: Family