The quiet of an autumnal Sunday afternoon for families enjoying the Cross Roads Baptist Church Fall Festival was disrupted when the explosive sounds of two colliding vehicles burst through the air.
John Ketring was on the front porch of the church on Lee Town Road and watched the collision.
Aurora Turner was at home around the corner from the church. She said she heard what sounded like "a huge explosion" and came running to help.
Pastor Bobby Shockley was overseeing the festival when he heard what "sounded like an explosion" and began running to the site of the collision. "I saw the truck in mid-air." Shockley dialed 911 as he was running towards the vehicles.
Rebekah McKeever had just turned 16 a month before; she was driving westbound on the two-lane road with her father, James McKeever, 43.
Joshua Snook, 54, was eastbound in a pickup truck when he missed the driveway to the church, backed up, then turned left into the path of the McKeever's Toyota Camry.
Ketring, who said he is from Siloam Springs, said his son is an assistant pastor at Cross Roads Baptist. In his statement to Benton County Sheriff's Office Deputy Michael Dowdle, Ketring said he saw the pickup truck, which was eastbound, back up on the highway to turn into the driveway of the church property and then turn very slowly, almost to the point of stopping, before the collision with the west-bound Toyota Camry.
Ketring said he is a first responder at work and immediately ran to the vehicles to check on the people involved.
A lady, who no one could identify, came up to the victims of the wreck and said she was a nurse. She offered aid until Pea Ridge Ambulance personnel arrived.
Snook, of Pea Ridge, was transported to Mercy Medical Center by Pea Ridge Ambulance.
"He turned in front of us," Rebekah said, adding that she could see him in front as she was driving and said it looked as though he was sitting still for a long time. The McKeevers are from Seligman, Mo.
Turner directed traffic from the west as Ketring directed traffic from the east.
There were no citations given, according to Dowdle's report.
Sports on 10/22/2014