Two separate crashes Saturday night near Mtn. Grove claimed the lives of a man and a woman, both locals to the community, reports the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Michael D. Cooper, 45, died of injuries suffered in a crash at 7:05 p.m. Saturday on Girlstown Road in Wright County, four miles north of Mtn. Grove, patrol said in a report.
Tpr. Z.B. Tate with Troop G of the patrol, Willow Springs, reported a 2010 Dodge 2500 was northbound when it went off the right side oft he road and overturned. The driver, Cooper, was not wearing a seat belt, the report shows.
Cooper was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m. by Texas County Ambulance medic James Moore, Tate reported. Cpl. J.D. Piccinino and troopers D.E. Rogers and J.M. Kenyon assisted at the scene.
The death marks the 17th traffic fatality this year in the nine-county Troop G area compared to the same number reported this time in 2021.
At 5:20 p.m. the same day, a crash on AD Highway in Wright County, 7 miles south of Mtn. Grove, killed Tangala M. Brown, 64, reported Piccinino, who responded to that crash.
According to Piccinino, Brown was the driver of an eastbound 1999 Dodge Caravan that traveled off the right side of the road and struck an embankment; she did not wear a seat belt.
Dr. Joe Jones of Mercy Hospital in Springfield pronounced Brown dead at 6:14 p.m.
Troopers Tate and Rogers assisted at the scene.
Brown’s death was the 16th traffic fatality in 2022 in Troop G, compared to 17 this time last year.
