A Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officer and a Grayson County Emergency Medical Service paramedic were injured while rendering aid to two accident victims after a truck overturned on the Western Kentucky Parkway late Thursday night.

Conservation Officer Greg Youree, from the Fish and Wildlife department, was the first to come upon the scene of a one-car accident, reported Kentucky State Trooper Seth Lee.

Youree was travelling home to Graves County, where he is assigned as a conservation office. He was coming from Frankfort where he had attended a Fish and Wildlife function, when he came across an accident in which two Grayson County men were injured.

“He was the first to reach the accident,” said Lee. “The truck was on fire. He used a fire extinguisher to put out the truck fire.

“From the way I understand things,” said Major David Casey from the Kentucky Fish and WIldlife Department in Frankfort, “when he (Youree) put out that fire he might well have saved the lives of those two guys in the accident.”

Youree injured his back while assisting the victims and was transported to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

“Without a question saved the lives of those two guys trapped in the truck,” said Sheriff's Deputy Mike Colvin.

Tony Rhodes, 47, of Falls of Rough, was traveling eastbound on the WK Parkway when he lost control of his vehicle.

The vehicle left the roadway and traveled down an embankment and struck a tree, reported Lee.

After striking the tree the truck overturned, throwing the driver from the vehicle and coming to rest on top of him.

The passenger, David Beville, 43, was partially ejected from the truck and was also paricially trapped under the vehicle.

Both the Leitchfield Fire Department and the Clarkson Fire Department were called to the scene to remove the victims from the vehicle.

“They were both trapped in and under the truck in such a way that if we took pressure off one by moving the truck one way, it might further injure the other one and if shifted the weight the other way it might have been fatal for the driver,” said Clarkson Fire Chief Andy Cain.

“The was the hardest and most technical extraction of my career as a firefighter,” added Cain.

The passenger was the first to be removed from the truck and he was transported to University of Louisville Hospital by the air ambulance service, LifeNet.

More than 30 minutes later the driver was extracted from under the truck and transported to U of L by the air ambulance service, Stat Care.

Both accident victims are listed in critical condition.

Shortly after the driver was flown to the hospital Grayson County EMS paramedic, Scott Kane, was overcome by gas fumes and became light headed. He was transported to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center for treatment where he was later released.

Alcohol is suspected reported investigating officer Trooper Lee.

Reporter

tdunn@gcnnewsgazette.com