State sees increase in holiday death toll

At least five people died in traffic accidents on Kansas roads during the Labor Day holiday counting period, authorities said.

Harold K. Power, 70, of Moundridge, was killed around 7:30 p.m. Monday when the car he was driving went off the side of a county road north of Canton and rolled. Power was thrown from the vehicle, said McPherson County Sheriff Larry Powell.

Sandra Silva, 11, of Denver, Colo., was killed around 8 a.m. Monday when the driver of the extended-cab pickup truck she was in fell asleep, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. The truck, which was carrying eight people, went off the side of Interstate 70 one mile west of Wakeeney and rolled.

A Sunday night accident in northeast Kansas killed Theron K. Eades III, 23, of McLouth. He died from injuries suffered when he failed to negotiate a curve on a county road near McLouth and slammed his pickup truck into a tree.

Rocky L. Hysom, 23, of Kingman, was killed early Saturday when the car he was driving crossed the center line on U.S. Highway 54 east of Kingman and collided with an oncoming pickup truck, the patrol said.

Paul A. Guzman-Florez, 19, of Topeka, was killed Saturday afternoon when the car he was driving ran into the back of another car, hit the center median and rolled, the patrol said. The teen was ejected.

Two people died on Kansas roads on the Labor Day weekend last year. This year’s counting period was from 6 p.m. Friday to 11:59 p.m. Monday.