SUV overturns into Cape La Croix Creek

By C.M. SCHMIDLKOFER

Southeast Missourian

A 22-year-old Cape Girardeau man was injured Friday afternoon when his vehicle left Mount Auburn Road and overturned into Cape La Croix Creek, police said.

Lynk A. Jenkins, of 616 Boxwood Drive, No. 4, was southbound on Mount Auburn Road at about 3:50 p.m. when, he told police, he lost consciousness.

The 2005 Kia Sorento sport utility vehicle he was driving crossed the northbound lane of Mount Auburn road, slipped between a 15-foot gap in guardrails, over a 12-foot retaining wall at Cape La Croix Creek where it overturned, police said.

No other cars were involved in the accident and there were no other injuries.

Cape Girardeau Sgt. Rick Schmidt said a squad unit was nearby the accident and responded within seconds, finding Jenkins laying on a gravel bank.

Schmidt called Jenkins' injuries "disabling" but did not say if the man was conscious at the time police and rescue workers arrived at the scene.

Schmidt did not think Jenkins was thrown from the vehicle, adding that the accident is still under investigation. He said the presence of drugs or alcohol were not a factor in the accident at this point.

Cape Girardeau Fire Department responded with two stations and a battalion chief, said battalion chief Bob Kembel.

They remained on the scene for over an hour, using a rope to scale the incline from the road to the river, he said.

Jenkins was placed in a stokes basket, a secured wire-framed basket that allows rescue workers to tie people in for security, hoisted up the incline and into the ambulance and transported to Saint Francis Medical Center, Kembel said.

carel@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127