A truck driver says he was at the scene of the head-on collision that killed a KU sophomore in July. He said the blown tire on the KBI undercover truck that apparently caused the wreck was a retread.
and Erwin Seba
Journal-World Writers
Two months later, state police say they are still waiting to see the maintenance records on a Kansas Bureau of Investigation truck that struck the car of a Kansas University student July 10, killing the young man instantly.
The apparent cause of the Interstate 70 wreck was a blow-out on a front tire of the KBI's military style vehicle, which was driven by Special Agent Dana Moodie. Killed was Ethan Lichti, 21, a KU sophomore from Newton.
Thursday, a truck driver who was among the first at the scene and who helped extract Moodie from the wreckage, told Journal-World the blown tire was a retread. And he accused the police agency of negligence for poorly equipping the vehicle.
"It was definitely a retread and this has upset me ever since then," said John Carey, a driver for ABF Trucking with 25 years' experience. "I was really shaken by the fact this young man died because of negligence. A retread is never intended to be used on a steering axle to begin with. It's not a question of if it will blow, it's when it will blow."
Carey said he didn't see the wreck, which happened late at night and involved several cars in a construction zone on I-70 west of Topeka. Roadwork had reduced the interstate there to two lanes of traffic. But, Carey said, he arrived at the scene driving his ABF rig moments after the crash.
He said he was the first to reach Lichti and among the first to reach Moodie. He said he loaned his flashlight and knife to emergency workers, who used the knife to cut Moodie free from the seatbelts in the overturned KBI truck.
"I found this young man dead in his car," Carey said. "They used my knife to cut the KBI agent out. Later I wrote a letter to the (Lichti) family and told them what I saw. I told them I thought he died instantly and that I prayed over him."
Hauling 'hazardous waste'
According to a Kansas Highway Patrol report, Moodie was eastbound near the Wamego exit about 11:20 p.m. that Saturday when the left front tire of the truck "blew out," causing him to cross the center line into westbound traffic.
The KBI's converted military ambulance, which sources told Journal-World was returning from a western Kansas drug raid, hit the side of one car, injuring its driver, then ran head-on into a 1992 Mazda driven by Lichti, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Carey said when he looked in the back of the KBI truck he saw what appeared to be rifle cases and ammunition boxes.
He said he asked Moodie whether the vehicle carried any hazardous materials. Moodie responded: "Yes. Automatic rifles and ammo."
"I saw some old military-style tactical phones like we used in Vietnam," Carey said, "and I saw something that said Drug Enforcement."
Soon after the accident, Kansas Highway Patrol investigators requested copies of the truck's maintenance records, but more than two months later, those records have not been produced, according to KBI and Highway Patrol officials.
"It's a military tire and we're still waiting on the maintenance records from the military because that's where the tire came from," said KBI Director Larry Welch.
"I do know we're pursuing it and trying to get everything to the Highway Patrol," Welch said. "It's not anything we're holding up. I don't frankly know what's holding it up."
Welch said he had not heard from any investigators that the truck might have had a retread tire.
Backlogged KHP
Sgt. John Eichkorn of the Highway Patrol said that KHP investigators were still trying to reconstruct the accident and needed the maintenance records for their report, but that the unit handling that project was backlogged because of "a rash of fatal accidents across northeast Kansas."
"I know they were looking specifically at the tire itself as a piece of evidence," Eichkorn said. "I imagine if they are looking at it, they will know whether or not it was a retread."
Carey said he has not been interviewed by KHP or KBI investigators about what he saw that night.
Though transportation safety officials discourage the use of retread tires on the steering axle, there is no prohibition against their use on most vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Transportation bans retreads on the front axles of commercial buses but not commercial trucks.
In any event, vehicles owned by federal, state or local governments -- including the military -- are exempt from state and federal regulations, according to the Transportation Department and the Kansas Corporation Commission.
Two months after the accident, Carey said memories of the scene still haunted him. He said that's what prompted him to write a letter to Lichti's family in Newton.
"I have a son close to (Lichti's) age," Carey said. "I know what it's like to bury a child. We lost our only daughter several years ago. I just haven't been able to forget about it."
Norman Lichti, Ethan's father, said the information from Carey might help him understand how the accident happened, but it would not help him understand why.
"There isn't any amount of information or compensation that's going to change anything," Norman Lichti said. "It's just not a terribly important thing for me at this point."
-- Peter Hancock's phone message number is 832-7144. His e-mail address is phancock@ljworld.com. Erwin Seba's phone message number is 832-7145. His e-mail address is eseba@ljworld.com
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