A traffic accident around 7 a.m. on Monday, September 12, near Beaman, Iowa, killed one motorist and seriously injured the driver of the semi truck involved in the accident.
The deceased driver was ultimately identified as one Steven Humphrey, aged 42. According to the Parrot and Wood funeral home, Humphrey was a resident of Oelwein.
The wreck was investigated by deputies of the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office, who released the following preliminary information. According to deputies, Humphrey was in a minivan and driving southbound on Grundy County Road T29. While driving through an intersection, Humphrey encountered a semi truck that rolled through the intersection’s stop sign. The truck was being driven by William Thompson, age 55, a resident of Newton, Iowa. Thompson’s truck was bound east on Grundy County Road D55.
The semi truck struck the minivan broadside. It is unclear just how fast the truck was moving, but it hit the smaller vehicle with enough force to eject Humphrey entirely from his vehicle. Both vehicles continued moving, ultimately rolling into a ditch along the roads.
Paramedics were called to the scene to evaluate both drivers. Unfortunately, Humphrey was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Thompson, who was also injured in the accident, was taken to Marshalltown Medical and Surgical Center. There, doctors determined his injuries were serious, but ultimately not life-threatening.
Shockingly, this was the second fatal incident in two days for Grundy County, according to local news sources.
9-year-old Tate Johnson was riding his ATV a day earlier when he lost control of the vehicle while five miles east of the city of New Hartford, and apparently rolled it. He was killed outright in the crash. Johnson was a resident of Dike, Iowa.
Two such accidents back-to-back have surely taken their toll on local residents, and the semi truck incident demonstrates clearly the dangers that careless truck drivers can subject others to.
