The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by David Grimes, Quill correspondent
Four Stronghurst area youth were fortunate to walk away after a one-car wreck a quarter mile east of IL 94 in Stronghurst Tuesday evening.
A 911 call for help that went in about 7:50 p.m. drew personnel from the MST Fire Department, Henderson County Sheriff's Dept. and the Illinois State Police.
Joshua M. Muhleman-21, Travis Winters-18, Aaron Russell-18, and Jeff Tapscott-20 of Stronghurst were traveling westbound on county road 800 N at an S curve and swerved to avoid an eastbound vehicle.
Kevin Gibb, Media, the other driver, said once he passed Muhleman, he looked in his rearview mirror and saw Muhleman's 1997 Chevy Camaro RS over-correct.
It swerved off the right side and across to the left ditch on the south side of the road shearing a telephone and cable pole in half before coming to rest in the ditch facing east.
"He was traveling way too fast for conditions," Gibb said. "It actually looked like they might have been airborne."
Illinois State Police reported Russell, Tapscott and Muhleman were transported by ambulance to Great River Medical Center in West Burlington, Iowa with moderate injuries. Winters refused treatment.
Illinois State Police reported three of them were not wearing seatbelts. It was unsure about Russell who was the front seat passenger.
None of the four seemed seriously injured at the scene.
Muhleman was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and for failure to wear a seatbelt by State Police.
Henderson County Sheriff's Deputy David Thompson, MST Fire and Rescue, and the Biggsville and Stronghurst Ambulances assisted Illinois State Police at the scene.
Muhleman's black Camaro was totaled, police said.
An MST Fire and Rescue worker is busy at the scene of an accident near the "S" Curve in Stronghurst that took lives of several Union teenage girls in a tragic wreck several years ago. This time, however, four boys walked away without serious injuries. The car was totaled. -photo by David Grimes