ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Kansas Highway Patrol worked two accidents in the past week in Meade County, one of which claimed the life of a New Mexico man.
The fatality occurred around 10:30 p.m. last Wednesday on U.S. Highway 54 at N Road or about one mile east of Meade.
KHP said at that time, a 2016 Kia Forte was westbound on Hwy. 54 when it crossed the center line and the eastbound lanes, traveling through the median.
The Kia, KHP said, then struck a culvert and vaulted over U.S. Highway 160 when it rolled an unknown amount of times, vaulted over a barbed wire fence and came to rest.
The driver, Austin J. Wagoner, 37, of Albuquerque, N.M., was taken to St. Catherine in Dodge City, where he was pronounced dead.
KHP said Wagoner was wearing his seat belt at the time of the accident.
The second accident occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday on Hwy. 54 about a half mile west of Plains and injured a Texas man.
KHP reported a 2013 Subaru was stopped on Hwy. 54 eastbound at Meade County Road 4 waiting for traffic to clear northbound. The agency said at that time, a 2006 Kenworth semi traveling eastbound on U.S.-54 failed to yield to the Subaru and struck it in the rear of that vehicle.
KHP said the driver of the semi, 30-year-old Carl Clawson of Plains, and a passenger, Aaron Mercado, 12, also of Plains were not injured.
However, the driver of the semi, 21-year-old Timothy Koehn of Texhoma, Texas, was taken to Southwest Medical Center with a suspected serious injury. A passenger in the Kenworth, Shane Koehn, 21, of Gruver, Texas, suffered no apparent injury.
Except for Mercado, KHP said all involved in this wreck were wearing their seat belts.
