Hayti man killed in ambulance accident

MATTHEWS -- A Hayti man sustained fatal injuries in a one-vehicle accident when the ambulance he was riding in slipped on icy roads Wednesday night.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, at 8:29 p.m., in New Madrid County on Interstate 55, two miles north of Matthews, an accident occurred as Shawn M. Heflin, 21, of St. Louis was driving a southbound ambulance when the vehicle ran off the slick roadway and overturned several times, before coming to a rest in the northbound lanes of I-55.

Robert O. Hayes, 22, of St. Louis and Marietta Walker, 74, of Hayti received serious injuries and were flown by helicopter to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

R. D. Walker, 76, of Hayti, was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:45 p.m. by New Madrid County Coroner Tim Clayton.