Marion family escapes serious injury in multiple-vehicle crash with fatalities

From St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Among those who escaped serious injury [Tuesday afternoon] were Thomas and Melissa Garthwaite and their 5-year-old son, Owen, of Marion, Iowa. They were on their way to Mississippi to pick up a daughter who was staying with grandparents.In a telephone interview, Thomas Garthwaite, 36, credited his wife, who was driving the 2001 Dodge Caravan, with saving the family from serious injury: "She looked in the rearview mirror and saw stuff flying through the air. It was coming at us. She swerved out of the way just enough, I think, to save us." ...

In a telephone interview, Thomas Garthwaite, 36, credited his wife, who was driving the 2001 Dodge Caravan, with saving the family from serious injury: "She looked in the rearview mirror and saw stuff flying through the air. It was coming at us. She swerved out of the way just enough, I think, to save us." ...

Related article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

The driver of the tractor-trailer "basically ran over several vehicles," Sgt. Al Nothum of the Missouri Highway Patrol said at a news conference near the crash site. ...

The truck destroyed the Garthwaites' van.

Slideshow of the accident scene here