Semi driver pleads no contest to vehicular homicide in crash that killed five on I-70
A semi truck driver pleaded no contest Friday to five counts of vehicular homicide for causing a fiery wreck that killed five people on the Kansas Turnpike near Bonner Springs in 2017.
Kenny B. Ford, 59, entered his plea without receiving any promises on what his sentence will be. Vehicular homicide is a misdemeanor. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of one year confinement. Sentencing is set for March 20.
Ford was hauling a load for Colorado-based Indian Creek Express on July 11, 2017, when he failed to notice a traffic backup ahead of him in the westbound lanes of Interstate 70 near 174th Street. Unable to stop in time, his rig rammed into an SUV driven by 61-year-old Teresa J. Butler of Urbana, Illinois.
The force of the impact spun her GMC Terrain toward a retaining wall, killing Butler and passenger Karen Lynn Kennedy, 63, of New Palestine, Ill. The truck then hit a car driven by 83-year-old Sheldon Cohen of Topeka. He and his wife, 79-year-old Virginia Cohen, died when their Buick LaCrosse was pushed into a guardrail and came to a stop in a ditch.
Ford’s 2015 Freightliner then collided with a Ford Taurus, killing its driver, Ricardo Mireles, 38, also from Topeka, when his car was pushed underneath another tractor-trailer and caught fire.
Families of the victims are now suing the truck’s manufacturer in federal court in Kansas City, Kan. They allege that the Freightliner should have been equipped with an automatic emergency braking system, which might have prevented the collision or minimized the severity of the crash.
Ford gave no explanation for why he didn’t stop in time. His attorney, Ben Casad, said Ford was not impaired by drugs or alcohol, Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said.
Casad could not be reached for comment.
