Fatal crashes rare in downtown Columbia
Fatal crashes such as the one that killed a Jefferson City schoolteacher over the weekend are rare in downtown Columbia, according to statistics maintained by the state.
Over the last five years 320 crashes have been counted downtown, defined for the purposes of this story as the area bounded by Ash Street on the north, College Avenue on the east, Providence Road on the west and Elm Street on the south.
Of those crashes, only the one that happened Saturday was fatal.
Crashes resulting in property damage made up the biggest category of downtown crashes. Of the 320 total crashes, 207 involved property damage, or 64.6 percent.
Of the total number of crashes, 112 of them involved personal injury, or 35 percent of all downtown crashes.
Katie Paul, 25, died at a hospital after being hit early Saturday by an SUV while walking across Ash Street at Eighth Street in downtown Columbia. Another woman, Patricia Beasley, 25, was also hit and remained in critical condition Monday.
The SUV driver was unhurt.
A Columbia Police Department spokesman did not answer questions posed Monday by ABC 17 News, saying there is no new information to release about the case. ABC 17 News requested an incident report but had not received it Monday afternoon.
