Cigarette embers were blamed for a traffic crash Friday afternoon that injured a Mt. Vernon man. The crash occurred just south of Wamac on U.S. route 51.
According to police and media reports, 45 year old Robert Biggs was southbound on U.S. Route 51 when he rolled down the window of his pickup truck to light a cigarette. He lost control of the vehicle when he tried to get the embers off his face after they had blown back in through a window. The vehicle went off the roadway and overturned several times, hitting a utility pole and snapping it in two.
Biggs was reported to be out of the vehicle when emergency help arrived. He was taken to SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Centralia for treatment of a head laceration. The crash was reported just before 3 p.m. Friday.