Several accidents within an hour Wednesday kept authorities busy.
Authorities say a Eudora man was lucky to escape a Wednesday accident with only a broken leg after his pickup truck left a roadway, sailed over a bridge's retaining wall and struck another concrete retaining wall.
Michael Quick, 19, was in fair condition at Lawrence Memorial Hospital after the accident at 4 p.m. on Douglas County Road 1061 about halfway between North 1200 and North 1100 roads, south of Eudora.
"He's pretty lucky," said Sgt. David Brown of the Douglas County Sheriff's Department. "He's hurt, but it could have been a lot worse."
Quick was the only occupant of the truck, when it left the road just before the bridge, Brown said. The pickup truck went over one of the walls and struck one on the other side of the creek, which flipped the truck onto the passenger side. The truck then hit some rocks used as erosion control for the creek.
Brown said deputies planned to interview Quick at the hospital Wednesday night.
"There was no braking or skid marks," Brown said. "Fifty miles an hour would have put him over (the first retaining wall)."
Later, paramedics with Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical were called to another rollover accident at 4:50 p.m. at 1600 East 550 Road. Ambulances returned to Lawrence before reaching the scene because no injuries were reported in the one-vehicle accident.
Brown said that accident was caused by a tire blowout.
At the same time, Lawrence police were sorting out the details of a two-car accident at 12th and Haskell.
Police said the driver of a red Porsche that was westbound on 12th failed to yield the right-of-way and struck a black Tempo that was southbound on Haskell.
Police were unable to find the driver of the Porsche, but Sgt. Mark Warren said police think they know who it was. An 18-year-old woman and a 16-year-old boy in the Tempo were treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and released, police said.
A third person in the Tempo was not injured, police said.
-- Chris Koger's phone message number is 832-7126. His e-mail address is ckoger@ljworld.com.
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