Neither driver ticketed in collision that injured scooter driver

Neither driver was ticketed in a low-speed collision that seriously injured a scooter driver, according to the Lawrence Police Department accident report released this week.

The crash happened shortly after 11 a.m. June 20 at the intersection of 21st and Tennessee streets, which is marked with four-way stop signs.

Both vehicles had stopped — the scooter was eastbound on 21st and a pickup was northbound on Tennessee — before proceeding into the intersection, according to the accident report. The scooter hit the side of the pickup in the middle of the intersection, according to the report.

Arriving officers found the scooter driver underneath the pickup, then pushed the pickup to free him, according to the report.

The 55-year-old Kansas City, Kan., woman driving the pickup said she made a complete stop, looked in all directions and didn’t see other vehicles coming when she entered the intersection, according to the report. She told police she was about 15 feet into the intersection when she heard a “loud thud” on the rear door of the truck, looked in her rearview mirror, saw a scooter on the ground and stopped.

Interviewed at the hospital, the scooter driver said he made a complete stop and saw other vehicles in the intersection stop, too, according to the report. He said that after waiting for another vehicle to make a left turn, he entered the intersection where the pickup “ran him over.”

Police observed damage to the front of the scooter and to the side of the pickup, the report says.

Scooter driver Max Van Holt, 51, of Springfield, Mo., was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, then transferred to the University of Kansas hospital in Kansas City, Kan.

He remained in intensive care at KU this week, with injuries including 14 broken ribs and a broken pelvis, Van Holt’s brother, Lawrence resident Tom Van Holt, told the Journal-World. Van Holt said his brother’s recovery was expected to take months.

Contact Journal-World public safety reporter Sara Shepherd

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