Trooper Injured In Near Head-On Crash:

A Highway Patrol trooper was injured last night (04-21-10) when his patrol car was struck nearly head-on on I-44 in Newton County.

Trooper T. R. Morris was responding to a report that John R.Bristow,43, Edmond,Oklahoma, had led law officers in Oklahoma and Kansas on a high speed chase and that the suspect was nearing the Missouri state line.

Bristow, who was going the wrong way on the freeway, slammed into the troopers patrol car just east of the Missouri 166 exit on Interstate 44.

Bristow (a.) has been charged with assault of a law enforcement officer, driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident, and a misdemeanor Clay County, Missouri warrant for fraud.
He is being held in the Newton County jail on a $10,000 cash only bond.

Trooper Morris suffered minor injuries and was treated and released at St. John’s Hospital, Joplin, Missouri.