LEADWOOD, Mo. (AP) – The police chief for the eastern Missouri town of Leadwood is hospitalized with serious injuries after his patrol car slid on ice and struck a tree.

The Park Hills Daily Journal reports that Jerry Hicks was flown by air ambulance to a suburban St. Louis hospital following the accident Tuesday morning.

Hicks was on Route 8 near the town of Hopewell when his car slid on an icy bridge. Mayor Dennis Parks says the 69-year-old police chief suffered a head injury.

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