Muskogee County Injury Accident Blamed On Cell Phone Use

NewsOn6.com

MUSKOGEE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA -- A two-car collision that left a Sapulpa man in critical condition was blamed on a driver distracted while talking on a cell phone, according to a report by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The accident took place at 5:51 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of State Highway 16 and State Highway 72 about 5 miles south of Haskell in Muskogee County.

OHP troopers say 29-year-old Dustin Charles Shanks of Glenpool, driving eastbound on Highway 16, was stopped at a stop sign at the junction with Highway 72. Shanks was talking on a cell phone when he pulled into the path of a car traveling northbound on State Highway 72, the report states.

Shanks' car was struck in the passenger side, and both vehicles left the roadway to the northeast, flipping once and stopping in the center median.

A passenger in Shanks' car, 51-year-old Leslie Lane Brown of Tulsa, was critically injured and flown by medical helicopter to a Tulsa hospital with multiple injuries. Shanks was taken to a Muskogee hospital where he is listed in stable condition with internal injuries.

The driver of the second car, 38-year-old Shelly Marie Turner of Checotah, Oklahoma, was treated and released at Muskogee Regional Hospital with arm injuries.

The trooper's report states that seat belts were in use by all, but that Shanks' 1989 Oldsmobile did not have airbags.