Shawnee woman killed on Kansas turnpike after SUV stopped twice

A Kansas woman was killed Wednesday on the Kansas Turnpike near Andover, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Luvenia Bovi Lewis, 50, of Shawnee was driving a Saturn SUV that had stopped close to Mile Marker 61, between Towanda and Andover, said Lt. John Lenherr of the highway patrol.

At 12:31 p.m. on Wednesday, the turnpike’s emergency dispatch reported several calls saying the vehicle was stopped in the road in the right-hand lane, Lenherr said. At 12:40 p.m., the SUV was struck by a semitrailer truck as it pulled from the shoulder of the turnpike into the right-hand lane.

The impact pushed pushed both vehicles into the ditch on the right side of the turnpike, according to a Kansas Turnpike Authority accident report. Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene. The truck driver was uninjured.

Two hours before the accident, a highway patrol trooper assisted Lewis with the same vehicle at Mile Marker 108, 10 miles north of the Matfield Green service area, Lenherr said.

“At that point, the woman had run out of gas and the trooper gave her 2 gallons of fuel that got her vehicle going,” he said. “We are trying to determine why the vehicle was stopped again. Did she run out of gas? Why didn’t she stop at the two gas stations she went by?”

This story was originally published September 22, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Shawnee woman killed on Kansas turnpike after SUV stopped twice."