A Baldwin City man suffered critical injuries this morning when his truck swerved off the Kansas Turnpike and struck a bridge pillar, the Kansas Turnpike Authority reported.

Daryl D. Pickens Jr., 36, suffered critical leg, face and neck injuries just before 6 a.m. when his 1991 Ford F150 pickup struck the pillar just west of the Kansas Highway 7 interchange.

On Friday afternoon, Baldwin City Police Chief Mike McKenna retracted his earlier report – reported in several media outlets, including LJWorld.com – that Pickens died in the accident, and that Baldwin City Police had been asked to deliver the news to next-of-kin.

“He was dead at the scene,” McKenna said Friday morning. “We notified the family.”

Friday afternoon, though, McKenna said his death announcement was the result of a misunderstanding of communication between his department and the Kansas Highway Patrol.

McKenna said a Baldwin City officer was told that Perkins had been “bagged.” McKenna said he took that term to mean that Pickens had been killed and placed in a body bag; it turned out it meant that Perkins had been placed on an oxygen bag.

McKenna also said Pickens’ family was never told that he died, only that he’d been in an accident.

“We knew it was bad, but we didn’t want to tell them we believe he’s deceased,” McKenna said.

Pickens was taken to a Kansas City-area hospital for treatment. A condition report was unavailable.