Crash killed man from Nixa Near Ozark Mission

A man from Nixa died after the car that he was driving crashed into a tree on Tuesday night.

Derek Freeman, 45, was driving on Elk Valley Road, a mile south of Ozark, when he ran off the road and struck a tree at roughly 10:10 p.m., the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported. His 2010 Ford Fusion was totaled.An ambulance took Freeman to a hospital in Springfield but doctors could not save him. Freeman's death is the fourth reported traffic accident fatality this year in Troop D, which covers southwest Missouri