Drivers from Nixa, Republic were ejected, killed in separate wrecks over long weekend
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story referred to U.S. 65 as an interstate, not a highway.
Drivers from Nixa, Republic were ejected from their vehicles and killed in separate one-vehicle wrecks in the Ozarks during the first long weekend of summer.
Chance Whitelaw, 33, of Nixa, was killed early Friday on U.S. 65, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
He was driving a 2016 Kawasaki Ninja north on the highway in Saddlebrook when the vehicle traveled off the roadway, struck the median cables, ejecting the driver onto the shoulder of the highway.
Whitelaw, who was wearing a helmet, was pronounced dead at the scene by a coroner. The accident was shortly before 7 a.m. Friday in Christian County.
Christopher Bell, 37, of Republic, was killed Sunday afternoon on Missouri 14, the patrol reported. The wreck was at 1:30 p.m.
Bell was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox just two miles north of Marionville when the vehicle ran off the roadway, struck a sign and overturned, ejecting the driver.
He was pronounced dead at the scene. The patrol report said Bell, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was taken to a funeral home in Pierce City.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Drivers from Nixa, Republic were ejected, killed in separate wrecks
