Crash kills semi driver

Cybergal · Dec 28, 2007

Crash kills semi driver
12/28/07
Salina Journal, KS

A truck driver was killed Wednesday evening when his semitrailer struck another truck parked at the edge of Interstate Highway 135 was described Thursday as "a big teddy bear" who loved children.
"He didn't have any kids of his own -- he never was married," Thomas Kinish said of his truck-driving brother, John Kinish, who died at the age of 41. "When it came to kids, he was a big teddy bear."
At the time of the crash, Kinish, whose home was in Wilsey, Morris County, was in the company of a 12-year-old nephew, Dalton Brammer, also of Wilsey. The boy was taken to Salina Regional Health Center, where he was being treated for numerous cuts, according to Thomas Kinish, Council Grove.
"He's a little scared about getting back into a truck right now," Kinish said of the boy.
Kinish said his brother often took his nieces and nephews along when he drove -- for work or pleasure.
"Sometimes, he'd borrow my sister's van and take all the kids for ice cream," he said.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the crash occurred shortly after 6 p.m., when Kinish's northbound truck drifted onto the highway shoulder near the Saline-McPherson County line and struck the left rear side of a tractor-trailer parked there by Awgichew Negatu.
Negatu, St. Paul, Minn., had run out of gas and was sitting in the cab after placing safety cones behind his truck.
The impact peeled off about half of the side wall of the parked trailer and removed at least one tire from the trailer's rear axle.
Kinish's truck also struck part of Negatu's cab, tearing away a front fender and most of the hood, and leaving a trail of debris on the highway.
Kinish's truck went about 100 yards further to the north, where it went into the east ditch and ended up on its top, roughly perpendicular to the highway.
Negatu was taken by ambulance to Salina Regional, where he was listed Thursday in good condition.
John Kinish was pinned inside his truck for nearly an hour before rescue workers were able to free him. He, too, was taken to Salina Regional, and was pronounced dead about 9 p.m.
Kinish's truck was carrying liquid ammonium thiosulfate, a fertilizer, much of which was spilled in the crash.
Dean Speaks, deputy director of Saline County Emergency Management, said cleanup involves placing temporary dams in the ditch to stop the liquid, vacuuming it up, digging out dirt that was contaminated and testing the soil to ensure all the contamination is gone.
The cleanup is being handled by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Speaks said, adding "it can be a fairly lengthy process, and can get expensive."
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http://www.saljournal.com/rdnews/story/122807_wreck_follow

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