Accident sends Blackwell man to hospital

A Blackwell man who was trapped underneath his Jeep during a rollover accident Friday was rescued by the driver of another Jeep.

John McClung, 56, of Blackwell, was ejected from his 2006 Jeep Wrangler and pinned underneath a wheel of the vehicle after it rolled into a ditch 2 ½ miles north of Tonkawa on U.S. Highway 177 at approximately 6 p.m. Friday.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Chris Vaughan reported that McClung was driving northbound on the highway when his vehicle departed the roadway to the right and struck a ditch. The vehicle rolled an unknown number of times and came to rest on its wheels, with McClung stuck underneath a wheel on the passenger side of the vehicle.

Blackwell firefighters arrived on scene and used a passerby’s Jeep with a winch mounted to the front of it to lift McClung’s Jeep off him, Vaughan said.

After firefighters freed McClung, he was transported by Air Evac to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, with head, arm, leg, internal trunk, and external trunk injuries. He was admitted in critical condition.

Vaughan said in an accident report that the odor of alcohol was present in McClung’s vehicle. The cause of the collision remains under investigation.