Orange City, Iowa — Two people received serious injuries in a car accident on the west edge of Orange City on Thursday, May 18.
The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office reports that about 12:15 p.m., 63-year-old Deb Stevens of Paullina was driving a 1998 Honda Accord westbound on Highway 10 near Ironwood Avenue. That’s about a mile and a quarter west of the Albany Avenue traffic light, near the city’s western welcome sign. They report that 40-year-old Keith Scholten of Orange City was driving a 2014 Ford F150 pickup, also westbound on Highway 10 behind Stevens. The third vehicle was a 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue, driven by 20-year-old Justine Van Sloten of Maurice, which was eastbound on Highway 10.
According to the report, Stevens crossed the center of the roadway and struck the Van Sloten Olds. After the accident, the Oldsmobile rolled onto its top on the roadway and Scholten drove into the south ditch to avoid striking the vehicles.
Stevens and Van Sloten were both trapped in their vehicles and required extrication by fire department personnel, says the report. The Orange City Ambulance took both of them to the Orange City Health System Hospital. Their injuries were described as “serious” in the report.
It says Van Sloten was later flown to Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then on to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
The Stevens Honda sustained about $5,000 in damage. The Van Sloten Oldsmobile sustained an estimated $3,000 in damage. The Scholten Ford pickup that had to take the ditch received about $50 in damage, according to the report.
It says Stevens was cited on a charge of failure to yield half the roadway.
The Sheriff’s Office reports that the Orange City Fire Department, Orange City Ambulance Squad, the Orange City Police Department and the Iowa Department of Transportation assisted them with the response to the accident.
