–A Lakota man suffered minor injuries after the truck he was driving left the roadway and eventually caught fire last week near Whittemore.
According to the Kossuth County Sheriff’s Office, 73-year-old Clark Joseph Cook was traveling west on County Road B40 in a 2008 Ford Ranger just after 11:30 PM on Wednesday, October 15th. Cook told Deputies that he swerved to avoid a deer, causing his truck to enter the south ditch.
The accident report states that the truck traveled for over a quarter mile in the ditch before it hit a culvert and got stuck. As Cook tried to get the vehicle unstuck, it ended up catching fire. He reported only minor injuries and was taken by ambulance to Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona.
Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $10,000, and Cook was cited for failure to maintain control. The accident report also notes that Cook will need to be reexamined to test his fitness to drive as his motor skills seemed off, and he admitted to Deputies that he did not have a full memory of the accident.
