A photo of the accident scene.
Police aren’t exactly sure how the accident that closed a section of Highway 34 on Thursday occurred.
What they do know is that somehow, a semi-truck driven by 40 year old Terry Groves of Creston and a pickup truck driven by 82 year old Paul Wilmesmeier of Wapello collided with one another while travelling eastbound near the Central Street off ramp.
Groves claims that he first saw the Wilmesmeier vehicle as it was sliding sideways in front of his cab before hitting the retaining wall. Wilmesmeier claims that his vehicle was struck from behind by the semi-truck, causing him to lose control.
There was no independent, third-party witness to the accident, thus, neither men were charged with any infractions. Wilmesmeier complained of minor injury after the accident, but did not require hospitalization.
Traffic was backed up for over two hours while police investigated the accident. The accident occurred at around 10:20am.
