Serious injuries reported in 5-vehicle accident near Sixth Street and Kasold Drive / LJWorld.com

Archive for Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Serious injuries reported in 5-vehicle accident near Sixth Street and Kasold Drive

Emergency response personnel help load a man onto a stretcher after a five-car accident near the intersection of Sixth Street and Kasold Drive in the afternoon on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Another person was transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with what were reported as life-threatening injuries.

By George Diepenbrock & Shaun Hittle

May 23, 2012, 2:42 p.m. Updated May 23, 2012, 5:20 p.m.

Five-Vehicle Accident on Sixth Street

Emergency response crews work to help those injured in a five-vehicle accident near the intersection of Sixth Street and Kasold Drive on Wednesday. Enlarge video

Photo by George Diepenbrock

Photo of four-vehicle accident near 6th and Kasold streets Wednesday around 2:45 p.m. Crews on scene are reporting one person not breathing and one person with life-threatening injuries.

A Lawrence police officer pulled an injured 77-year-old man from a five-vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon near Sixth Street and Kasold Drive and began performing CPR on him before medics arrived.

Officer Charlie Stewart was first on the scene of the chain reaction crash about 2:30 p.m. and began assisting the driver of a Cadillac that crashed into vehicles that were stopped at a light in the westbound lanes of Sixth Street, said Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman.

The injured man had no pulse and was not breathing when Stewart performed CPR for several minutes. Once medics arrived, the man, who police did not identify Wednesday, was taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital and was later transferred to a Kansas City area hospital in serious condition, McKinley said.

“At this point preliminary investigation indicates that the driver of the Cadillac had a medical issue while he was driving and struck the other vehicles,” McKinley said.

The Cadillac struck the back of a pickup truck, and it caused a chain reaction that involved three other vehicles in front of the pickup truck, including a city vehicle.

Another driver was also taken by ambulance from the scene with less serious injuries.

Martin Villagran of Topeka was driving in front of the crash and was the last one struck. He said the four vehicles that were hit as part of the chain reaction were all stopped waiting for a red light when the accident occurred.

“It surprised me,” Villagran said. “Hopefully the guy will be all right.”

The crash caused major traffic issues into the rush hour as the city advised drivers to avoid the westbound lanes of Sixth Street in the area. A police mapping team for several hours investigated the crash in the far right westbound lanes east of Kasold Drive.

6th and Kasold

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Curtis Lange 12 months ago

Thats not good. :/ Hope everyone turns out to be OK. I spy a city of Lawrence truck involved there too.

ksjayhawk74 12 months ago

That's the same spot I saw a 2 car accident at about a month ago.

DaniB 12 months ago

We drove by it right as the emergency vehicles got there. It looked pretty bad although I wouldn't have expected anyone to be seriously hurt. I hope it turns out okay for all involved.

consumer1 12 months ago

Texting? I think the west bound lane is the one closed according to the photo?

George Diepenbrock 12 months ago

You are right that it's the westbound lanes. It's fixed. Thanks.

Ron Holzwarth 12 months ago

"McKinley said officers were trying to determine what caused the Cadillac driver to crash into the first vehicle."

It's possible that the accident occurred because the Cadillac driver failed to apply the brakes.

Or, maybe the brakes didn't work.

thefisherman 12 months ago

+1. I got a chuckle out of your comment.

oletimer 12 months ago

TAKE TIME TO READ THE STORY FIRST. WHAT PART OF MEDICAL CONDITION DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? QUIT RUNNING YOUR MOUTH BEFORE YOUR BRAIN KICKS IN

thefisherman 12 months ago

oletimer - pay attention to the modified date on the story. It was updated after Ron posted his comment. At the time of our comments, there was no information about the driver of the Cadillac.

Quit running your mouth, period.

kernal 12 months ago

Modified time.

thefisherman 12 months ago

D'oh

Jake Esau 12 months ago

I see plenty of both genders, and all ages from teens up to 50-60 year olds

AreUNorml 12 months ago

I see that you possess a 'Jump to Conclusions' mat.

asixbury 12 months ago

That worked out well for the guy in Office Space, huh?

mommatocharlie 12 months ago

That intersection is a mess. As well as the two westbound lanes being blocked, one eastbound lane is closed for road work. I'm not surprised that the Cadillac driver was hurt so bad. Nothing left of the front end of his car. Ugly wreck.

AreUNorml 12 months ago

did it ever occur to you that it could have been an older person (big, newer Cadillac), and maybe they had a medical emergency.. Nope, 3 comments about texting later..

jackpot 12 months ago

I was thinking medical emergency first thing.

blindrabbit 12 months ago

I'm an oldster myself, but must agree with previous poster about the driver of "big, newer Cadillac" being "older".. I see older folks driving (herding) these big sleds and wonder how they control them. I'm surprised that more of these rear-enders don't occur!