One person was taken to a Topeka hospital
early Thursday after a semi hauling drywall rolled over on US-24 highway just
west of Rossville, shutting down both lanes of traffic for much of the morning.
The crash was reported around 7:25 a.m. just west of N.W. 54th
and US-24. The location was about a mile west of Rossville.
Traffic was being diverted onto other roads in the area as crews
responded to the crash.
Drywall that was being hauled in the semi’s trailer unit was
scattered across US-24 and into the ditches on both the north and south sides
of the roadway.
Kansas Highway Patrol Lt. Bryce Whelpley said at the scene that
the semi was traveling west on US-24 at the time of the crash.
“For an unknown reason, it left the roadway there on the north
side,” Whelpley said. “It over-corrected, overturned and lost the contents off
the trailer and created quite a mess.”
Whelpley said the semi rolled “at least once,” resulting in
“substantial damage to the cab of the truck.”
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol’s online crash log, the
2012 Freightliner semi-trailer was driven by Kaleb M. Toda, 26, of Topeka. The
patrol said Toda had possible injuries but wasn’t transported by ambulance to
the hospital. The patrol said Toda was wearing his seat belt.
A passenger in the semi, Juan Antonio Garcia, 46, of Topeka, was
transported by American Medical Response ambulance to Stormont Vail Hospital
with what were described as minor injuries. The patrol said Garcia was wearing
his seat belt.
Whelpley said crews from Brown’s Super Service, a Topeka-based tow truck
company, had been called to the scene to remove the vehicle. A tow truck had
arrived on the scene by around 8:45 a.m. Thursday.
Authorities at the scene said the tow-truck company also would
clean debris from the roadway.
Whelpley said US-24 was expected to be closed “for a
considerable amount of time” on Thursday morning as clean-up and removal of the
semi-trailer took place.
Kansas Highway Patrol officials said US-24 remained closed as of
12:15 p.m. Thursday as crews continued cleaning debris from the highway.
Officials said the highway could be closed until around 2 p.m. Thursday.
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There is video available that shows the truck devastation quite well at:
