Four Die In Two Separate Traffic Accidents

Friday, September 1st 2006, 6:13 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A collision at a Seminole County highway intersection claimed the lives of three people and an elderly man died when his pickup truck crashed into a utility police in Kay County, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Amanda Jean Barnes, 24, of Wewoka; Holdenville resident Alicia Nicole Chapman, 22, and Heather D. McGehee, 17, of Okemah, suffered massive injuries and died at the scene of the 5:06 p.m. accident on Thursday, the patrol said.

Keyton Blanton, a 3-year-old Wewoka boy, was flown by helicopter to OU Medical Center and held for observation.

Troopers believe Barnes was driving the car west on Oklahoma Highway 99A and a semi was headed north on intersecting U.S. 377 when Barnes' vehicle failed to yield from a stop sign and was hit.

All three were pinned in the wreckage for about 30 minutes before Seminole firefighters freed them, the patrol said.

None were wearing seatbelts, but child restraint was used, troopers said.

Near Ponca City, Francis E. Wilkerson was headed west on a county road when his truck drifted off the road and into a ditch for 204 feet before hitting a large utility pole about 10:05 a.m., the patrol said.

Wilkerson, 80, suffered head, arm and internal injuries and died at the scene, troopers said.