May 16, 2001

PRESS RELEASE

To: Newsroom

For Immediate Release

Contact: Brian A. Crawford, Public Information Officer

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

Child Killed in Morning Car Accident

■ Three others transported from dangerous intersection with various injuries

A four year old child was killed this morning when the car he was riding in collided with a pickup truck at the intersection of Buncomb Road and Bert Kouns Industrial Loop. Fire communications officers at Caddo 911 received a call reporting the incident at 6:41 a.m. When fire crews arrived, they found the pickup resting upside down on the shoulder of the westbound lane of Greenwood Road and a late model Ford Escort crumpled in the southbound lane of Buncomb Road.

The accident appears to have occurred when the driver of the Escort, traveling north on Buncomb, crossed the intersection and was struck at high impact by the pickup traveling west on Bert Kouns. Shreveport police report that the pickup appears to have had the green light. The impact of the accident caused the pickup to flip over several times and crushed the entire right side of the Escort. The children, all members of Evangel Christian Academy, appeared to be on their way to the school located at 7425 Broadacres Road.

Firefighters from the department’s nearby Bert Kouns and Woolworth Road station found the four year old boy, two other children, boy-10 and girl-8, and their 31 year old mother in the Escort. The driver of the pickup, Woodrow Hall, 56, of Bedford, Texas, was sitting on the roadside next to his overturned vehicle. Firefighters physically tore and pulled back crushed metal of the car’s roof and side to free the four year old, who was trapped behind the front passenger seat. Once removed the child was air lifted to Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) by Life Air Rescue. He was pronounced dead a short time later at the hospital. The two other children and mother were treated by department paramedics and transported to LSUHSC with stable injuries. All were reported to have been wearing their seatbelts. Hall sustained a minor injury to his left hand and was not transported. Officials credit his seatbelt and air bag with saving his life. ###