Garbage Truck Crash Puts 4 in Hospital

Four people have been injured, 3 of them seriously, in an accident in Fayette County involving a garbage truck.

It happened Dec. 31st at about 6:45am, two miles west of West Union on Highway 18.

A garbage truck, driven by 23 year old Dustin Bunn of Fairbank, was backing into a farm drive, when it collided with a pickup, driven by 24 year old Phillip White of Nashua.

A passenger in the pickup, 41 year old Melinda Scribner of Nashua, was trapped in the vehicle until the West Union Fire Department cut her free with the jaws of life.

Scribner was initially taken to the West Union hospital, and later airlifted to Mayo Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota with life-threatening injuries.

White was also taken to Palmer Hospital in West Union; he was airlifted to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, also with life-threatening injuries.

A passenger on the garbage truck, 35 year old Jeremiah Geary of Fayette, was outside the vehicle collecting trash when the accident happened; he was struck by the garbage truck upon impact. Geary was taken to Palmer Hospital, then airlifted to Gunderson Hospital in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, with life-threatening injuries.

Bunn, the garbage truck driver, was treated at Palmer; according to the Fayette County Sheriff, he will be charged with unsafe backing upon a highway.

White will be cited for driving with a suspended license.

A dog in White's pickup was taken to the West Union Vet Clinic for treatment.