The Kansas Highway Patrol has confirmed six people were taken to Newman Regional Health after a pair of crash scenes involving a total of 12 vehicles Tuesday.
Troopers say the first wreck involving injured travelers happened shortly after 12:30 pm near mile marker 116 southbound. The Highway Patrol says six vehicles were in the process of stopping after previous crashes when a car driven by 74-year-old Robert Piggee of Des Moines, Iowa, rear-ended a semi driven by 58-year-old James Moran of Altamont. An SUV driven by 35-year-old Natasha Flores of Kansas City, Missouri, tried to avert the crash but was rear-ended by a semi driven by 54-year-old Khanh Quoc Ho of Henryetta, Oklahoma. A car driven by 31-year-old Ashley Pendleton of Kansas City, Missouri, rear-ended Ho’s semi — and a semi driven by 42-year-old James Warren of El Dorado sideswiped the Ho semi.
Piggee and a passenger, 78-year-old Thomas Crawford of Carlisle, Iowa, were both taken to Newman Regional Health with suspected minor injuries. Nobody else was listed as hurt.
A second crash scene developed shortly after 3:30 pm. Troopers say an unlisted number of vehicles were stopped due to a crash further down the highway. A semi driven by 45-year-old Vakhab Akhmedov of Mount Prospect, Illinois, was driving too fast for the wintry driving conditions and hit the other five vehicles.
Akhmedov was not hurt, but four people in a pickup driven by 60-year-old Scott Lybarger of Eudora were hurt — including Lybarger, who suffered potentially serious injuries. Also suffering potentially serious injuries in the truck were 34-year-old Kailey Sue Vanarsdall of Kansas City, Missouri; and 44-year-old Laura Ann Hohlbaugh of Independence, Missouri. All three were taken to Newman Regional Health, as was 48-year-old James Blake of McPherson, another pickup passenger who suffered potentially minor injuries.
Nobody in the other four vehicles suffered any apparent injuries.
