Kansan Summer WeeklyWednesday. June 10, 1987
KU student recovers with hopes,plans
By STORMY WYLIE
Staff writer
Last month, a KU student was severely injured when his legs were crushed between two parked cars.
The left leg of John Buzbee, 21, Hutchinson junior, was amputated below the knee after it was severed in the accident. The right leg was crushed, but it did not require amputation.
Buzbee is now recuperating at his home in Hutchinson. He is undergoing physical therapy and waiting for the right leg to heal. Buzbee said he hoped to be walking with crutches by July.
The accident occurred at the end of last semester. Members of the University Daily Kansan staff had been having a party to celebrate the end of the semester. Buzbee, a journalism major, said he had joined in the celebration.
About 2 a.m. on May 5, Buzbee and two other KU students, Kjersti Moen, 22, Lier, Norway, junior, and Brian Pyle, 20, Hutchinson sophomore, left a party at the Alpha KappaLambda fraternity house, 2021 Stewart Avenue, to eat an early breakfast.
As the three friends walked along Stewart Avenue toward Pyle's car, Buzbee said he first heard and then saw a car swerving around the corner.
As he stepped between two parked
cars, Buzbee said, he saw the car sideswipe a parked car just behind him. He heard Moen scream, and he tried to get out of the way.
The car glanced off the first of three cars parked along the street, then crashed into the second car, which was pushed into the third car. Buzbee was pinned between the second and third parked cars.
"I don't remember a thing about the impact," he said. "I remember lying on the ground afterwards, but I really didn't feel any pain, and I didn't see any blood. Even though I heard the paramedic said I had a severed leg, I didn't really realize then how bad it was."
According to a Lawrence police report, the car that lost control was driven by Eldon Alldritt, 19, Wichita junior.
Two passengers in Aldritt's car, John Gorman, 21, Prairie Village freshman, and Randall Jackson, 21, Fredonia junior, also suffered bumps and cuts. They were treated at the scene.
Pyle suffered a broken nose, and Moen suffered bruises to her left leg and right hip as they were getting out of the way of Aldritt's car. Aldritt received a scratch to the eye and cuts and bruises. All three were treated and released from Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
Buzbee was flown to the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., by a Life Flight medical emergency helicopter.
After about an hour at the hospital.
Immediately after arriving at the Med Center, Buzbee's left leg was amputated below the knee during a four-hour surgery in which he lost six pints of blood. For several days, doctors were uncertain whether Buzbee would be able to keep his right leg.
Six steel pins are now holding the bones of his right leg together until it heals enough to be put in a cast sometime this summer.
Buzbee's parents, Richard and Marie Buzbee, Hutchinson, flew from a New York City convention to Kansas City as soon as they heard about the accident. Richard Buzbee is editor and publisher of the Hutchinson News.
Buzbee said that he didn't realize the extent of his injury until a surgeon at the Med Center told him his left leg was attached only by some skin.
"At first I was horrified." Burbee said. "I thought, 'I'm going to be a cripple the rest of my life!' I broke down a couple of times.
"But that's the great thing with prosthesis, it will not affect my career. I don't have any pro football aspirations. It won't be any great inconvenience."
A prosthesis is an artificial limb. Buzbee was recently elected president of the KU Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi. He had been co-winner of the John Chandler award for outstanding student reporter for the spring semester.
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He said he planned to be back at the University for the fall semester.
A prosthesis is an artificial limb.
Buzbee said he did not harbor any anger toward Aldritt.
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"There's no point in being angry or bitter," he said. "It will take a lot more than anger to get me through this."
Once the skin graft on his left leg has healed enough, it will be fitted with an artificial limb. He said he should get a permanent prosthesis in six months to a year.
Alldritt was charged last month in Lawrence Municipal Court with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Police administered a blood-alcohol test to Alldritt but have not released the results.
Although no open containers of beer or liquor were found at the scene of the accident, police said that the skid marks indicated that Alldritt was driving at an unsafe speed.
Alldritt was not present at his arraignment May 26, but his lawyer pleaded not guilty to the charge. Alldritt's trial date has been set for July 17.
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