The Marion County Sheriff’s Department has had a busy Friday as a result of snow-related events on the roadways.
The department assisted State Police with one accident with injuries when a semi overturned on I-57 southbound at mile marker four miles north of Salem. The driver and passenger received assistance from other motorists and eventually the Salem Fire Protection District who used a ladder to get them out of the overturned truck. State Police are handling the crash.
The sheriff’s department was also called to northbound I-57 at the 130-mile marker north of the Kinmundy exit where an SUV had run off the side of the highway into a tree deploying the airbags. No one was hurt.
The department responded to a call at Edgar and Vandeveer Roads in rural Kinmundy where an SUV had become stuck on the Canadian National train tracks. In the process of getting the vehicle off the tracks one of the trucks became stuck off of the tracks. Deputies say they had just gotten the train tracks cleared when a train passed.
In another call, the sheriff’s department went to the 7900 block of Sinclair Road in rural Kinmundy when they received a call of a car in a ditch with a possible intoxicated driver. 29-year-old Miranda Couffman of Sinclair Road was arrested for DUI and released on a notice to appear in court.
The department also handled two vehicles that ran off Woodard School Road and a semi that ran off the road at Boone and Hoots Chapel both northwest of Salem.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps is warning the rural roads are especially slick with the new snowfall on top of the ice still remaining from the storm earlier this week. He’s urging extreme caution.
Salem Public Works Director Travis Sanders also warns side streets in Salem are extremely slick with the packed snow and ice under the new snow. Crews worked Friday on pushing snow off the roads but he reports conditions are still not good.
