17-Year-Old Dead In Alcohol Related Phelps County Crash

A 17-year-old Saint James teen was killed in a single-vehicle crash at 5:30 Wednesday evening on I-44 at the 188-mile marker westbound. The Missouri Highway Patrol reports that a pickup driven by 39-year David A. Newton of Saint James ran off the right side of the highway. Newton overcorrected, causing the truck to overturn several times, ejecting Newton and the unnamed 17-year-old from the pickup. The teen was pronounced deceased at University Hospital in Columbia. Newton was airlifted to University Hospital with serious injuries. This is the first fatality in troop I this month and the third for the year. Newton is facing charges of D.W.I., causing the death of another, and failure to drive within the right lane involving a crash.