Half Wit Eric Sommer and his wife Nicole were involved in the acccident Sunday morning which held up the start of the triathlon. For those of you who don't know them, they are wonderful people and tremendous athletes. Eric is one of the top SRRC runners and has joined us for several of the Half Wits runs.
Here is the story from the Wednesday edition of the State Journal-Register:
Three injured motorists released from hospital
By JAYETTE BOLINSKISTAFF WRITER
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Three motorists injured in a two-vehicle crash near Lake Springfield Sunday morning have been released from St. John’s Hospital.
Eric B. Sommer, 35, Nicole Sommer, 37, and Nicholas Ramirez, 20, all of Springfield, were all in the same vehicle. The other driver, Lathan Montgomery, 57, of Springfield, remained hospitalized Tuesday in serious condition.
Firefighters worked for more than an hour to extricate victims from the wreckage of the crash, which happened about 7 a.m. on East Lake Shore Drive at Linden Lane near the entrance to the Springfield Muni Opera. The accident tied up traffic for some time as people were trying to get to the Iron Abe and Stoneman Sprint triathlons at Lake Springfield.
According to police, Montgomery was driving a 2006 Honda Ridgeline north from the Muni entrance and for some reason crossed the centerline, striking an oncoming 2006 Honda Odyssey driven by Eric Sommer. According to the accident report, Sommer said he was on his way to compete in the triathlon, when he and his wife, who was a passenger, saw a vehicle coming at them in their lane. Sommer swerved to the right to try to avoid a collision but didn’t want to go down an embankment, so he braked to a nearly complete stop by the time the Ridgeline struck them.
Montgomery later spoke to police at the hospital but said he couldn’t remember what happened, other than to say he’d been at work and was on his way home at the time. His wife told police he’d had recent medical issues, according to the crash report. Montgomery was ticketed for improper lane usage.
Jayette Bolinski can be reached at 788-1530 or jayette.bolinski@sj-r.com.
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4 comments:
My thoughts and prayers to all that were involved. Wish everyone a speedy recovery.
Is there anything that we can do for them as a club? Cook, clean, mow, etc...
Great idea Holly. I just got off the phone with my bro Chuck and suggested the same thing!! What can we all do to let them know we are all there for them????
Luckily they both have family here and Nicole's mom has been helping at the house. Thank goodness for Eric's good judgement of coming to a complete stop and taking the force. I am not sure I would have had the courage to do what he did but they are all alive and recovering well.
We all wish them a speedy recovery, including Nick, who is to start as a freshman at ISU in the next couple of weeks.
Kim N.
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