75-year-old driver dies in Southern Expressway collision

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) — A southern Illinois man was killed Thursday morning in a crash involving two commercial vehicles on Southern Expressway in Cape Girardeau, police said.

Officers responded about 10:49 a.m. to the 2000 block of Southern Expressway. A preliminary investigation showed a 2025 Mack tanker truck had stopped in the roadway while a piece of construction equipment ahead was turning into a private drive.

Police said a 2015 Freightliner loaded with rock, driven by Roger D. Tucker, 75, of Thebes, Illinois, struck the rear of the tanker. Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver of the Mack tanker, James Lovel Jr., 52, of Morley, Missouri, was not injured.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s crash reconstruction team are continuing to investigate.