TORCH RUN DISRUPTED BY 4-VEHICLE CRASH

The Special Olympics Torch Run by five members of the Cape Girardeau police department was interrupted Tuesday afternoon when four vehicles collided on Interstate 55 just yards away from where the officers were running.

The officers, who were helping in an effort to get the olympic torch to Fort Leonard Wood where this year's Special Olympics will take place, had just taken the torch onto the interstate when the accident occurred.

Two torches were being carried Tuesday throughout Southeast Missouri by members of law enforcement. The torch which came through the city started the morning in Poplar Bluff and was transported through Dexter and Sikeston before arriving in Cape Girardeau. Officers from the city were responsible for taking the torch onto Perryville.

The plans, however, had to be altered when the accident occurred close to where the officers were running.

Preliminary reports by the Cape Girardeau police department said that the accident, which involved two cars and two tractor-trailer trucks, occurred shortly before 3 p.m. when one of the cars, driven by Shirley Aleem of St. Louis, slowed down and nearly stopped in the passing lane.

Although they said that Aleem slowed down for unknown reasons, the police said that she might have slowed to watch the torch runners.

As she slowed, a second car, driven by Alisha Gehl of Jackson, entered the interstate from Route K. When Gehl's car merged into the driving lane, a tractor-trailer truck, driven by Larry Welker of Marble Hill, switched lanes to avoid Gehl.

But Welker told police that only after he changed lanes did he realize that Aleem had slowed and nearly stopped in the passing lane. Welker then applied his brakes to keep from hitting Aleem.

When Welker applied his brakes, he was hit from behind by a tractor-trailer truck driven by Jeffrey Watts of Godfrey, Ill. The impact caused Welker's truck to strike Aleem's car. As the three vehicles were coming to a rest, Gehl's car struck Aleem's, the police said.

Aleem and a passenger -- Nathan Scott Jr. also of St. Louis -- were transported to St. Francis Medical Center for treatment.

The police officers, who were on the shoulder of the interstate when the accident occurred, stopped their torch run and worked at the accident scene alongside uniformed police officers.

Police were still investigating the accident late Tuesday.