February 20, 2001

PRESS RELEASE - UPDATE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

Phone: 673-6652, cell: 455-2609, page: 675-2137

Pedestrian Hit in Two Car Accident

■ Three Transported to Hospital

A two vehicle accident this morning at Youree Drive and Stoner Avenue sent three people to the hospital, including a 75-year-old pedestrian who was standing in the median of the intersection waiting to cross the street. Fire department officials were notified of the accident at 11:22 a.m. When the first company from the department’s Stoner Avenue station arrived on the scene they reported three people injured: two down on the ground in the median separating the north and south lanes of Youree Drive and the other trapped in his vehicle.

According to officials on the scene, a late model Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo being driven south on Youree Drive entered the intersection crossing Stoner Avenue when it was struck by a late model Pontiac Grand Am traveling east on Stoner Avenue. The Jeep was pushed up into the median, while the red Grand Am spun around in the south bound lane of Youree Drive, coming to a rest facing the opposite direction of traffic. Both vehicles sustained heavy frontal damage that deployed their air bags respectively. It was not clear which vehicle struck the pedestrian. Shreveport Police on the scene reported that the Jeep Grand Cherokee had the green light and that the Grand Am’s light was red.

Fire Officials assessing the situation quickly called for additional department resources to handle the multiple patients, including a rescue truck and two additional medic units (one medic was dispatched on the initial alarm). Firefighters located the driver of the Jeep, 24-year-old Allison Donovan of Shreveport, seated in the median. She was treated for minor injuries and transported to Christus Schumpert Medical Center. The pedestrian, Johnny Hall of Shreveport, was also found in the median. Hall was treated for moderate injuries by paramedics and transported to Louisiana State University Health Science Center. The driver of the Grand Am, Stwart Blackburn, 20, of Bossier City, was trapped in his vehicle and had to be cut out with the Jaws of Life by the fire department’s rescue team. He was transported to Christus Scumpert-Bossier Medical Center with moderate injuries.

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