Child killed, 3 injured in 4-vehicle crash in rural Johnson County near Gardner
A child was killed and three other people were injured Monday morning in a crash involving four vehicles at an intersection near Gardner, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to the crash shortly before 8 a.m. at 175th Street and Four Corners Road, which is west of Gardner in rural Johnson County, said Shelby Colburn, public information officer for the sheriff’s office.
A driver’s maroon SUV, which was carrying three children, was struck in the intersection by a roofing truck heading west, which pushed the SUV into another truck, Colburn said. That truck then struck a van.
The driver and two of the children in the SUV were taken to a hospital for injuries described as not life threatening, Colburn said.
As vehicles were still being towed away, Colburn told reporters at the scene that the child’s death was a “tragedy.”
“As you can imagine, no matter how many times you respond to something like this, it never gets easy, especially when a child is involved,” she said.
Investigators were searching for video of the wreck. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.
Terry Simpson, who lives at the intersection, said he was sitting in his living room when he saw the SUV pass his house going “pretty fast.”
“By the time I got up to get the front door to see if she was going to stop, the crash had already happened,” Simpson said. “So I ran and got my shoes and ran out to the scene like any person would.”
He described the sound of the crash like a big echo.
“I’m not going to say explosion,” he said “When four cars come together — shattering glass. Light shattering.”
Drivers running the stop signs at that intersection is a big problem, Simpson said. He saw two vehicles run the stop sign later Monday afternoon. Also, he said, the speed limit in that area is 45 mph and drivers run at least 10 mph faster.
Simpson said he was still shaking after seeing the aftermath of the crash.
“It could have been my grandchildren,” he said. “Anybody’s. You just never know. Life changes in a heartbeat.”
