University, Daily Kansan / Tuesday, October 3, 1989
9
Topeka woman killed in fiery auto accident
Douglas County rescue workers and Lawrence firefighters prepare to remove Valerie Slater's body from the accident scene.
Car crashes into turnpike light pole near West Lawrence exit
By Paula Parrish
Kansan staff writer
One person was killed and another was seriously injured yesterday when a car they were in veered off interstate 70, struck a light pole, rolled over and burst into flames.
Valerie A. Slater, 31, of Topeka,
was pronounced dead at the scene by
Douglas County Coroner Alan Sanders.
Slater's body was removed from
the vehicle more than 40
minutes after the fire was extin-
nished.
"T
John E. Bullock, 38, also of Topeka, was driving east on I-70 when the accident occurred, according to a report filed by Kansas Highway Patrolman Jerry Smith. Police think that Bullock fell asleep at the wheel and swerved off the highway to the right, striking a light pole at the entrance to the West Lawrence exit trumpet ramp.
The car continued on into a ditch.
The car was on fire and he (Bullock) was running around and fell under the back part of the car, under the trunk. I saw that I couldn't do anything for her, so I got him out of there.'
Leon Rockers
Maintenance foreman
colled onto its top and caught fire at the base of the interchange ramp bridge, which passes over 1-70.
Smithed said it, appeared that the impact with the light pole pushed back the front end of the late model, two door sedan and locked up the wheels, leaving Bullock unable to steer.
Bullock was transferred by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Judith McFadden, director of community relations at the hospital, said Bullock "suffered first and second-
degree burns and later was transferred to the University of Kansas Medical Center's burn unit.
Major Paul Findley of the Lawrence Fire Department and two engines and a tank truck arrived on the scene at 10:27 a.m. five minutes after receiving the emergency call.
Findley said the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Smith and Leon Rockers, maintenance foreman for the Kansas Turnpike Authority, arrived on the scene at about the same time, just moments before the fire department.
Rockers said Bullock was out of the flame-engulfed car when he arrived, and it appeared as though he was trying to help the woman.
"But it was so hot you couldn't go anywhere near there," Rockers said.
"The car was on fire, and he was running around and fell under the back part of the car, under the trunk," Rockers said. "I saw that I couldn't do anything for her, so I got him out of there."
Rockers said he pulled Bullock up the embankment and away from the burning car, even though he was afraid that the gas tank might explode.
He said Bullock was running around and appeared to be delirious.
Rockers said he had been called by toll-booth personnel to remove glass from the highway that drivers passing through the toll gate had reported. The glass turned out to be from the light pole that had been hit.
The car veered off the turnpike near the West Lawrence exit ramp.
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