Sacramento, CA : Sterling College students die in double-fatality crash at U.S. 50, Sego Road on Monday, 7th November 2016

Two Sterling College students died Monday morning in a crash on U.S. 50 in Reno County.

The college said the Kansas Highway Patrol released names of the deceased students as juniors Esther Jenkerson, 21, of Datil, New Mexico, and Xavier Bradford, 25, of Lancaster, California.

Jenkerson was an athletic training major. Bradford was a writing and editing/creative writing major and was on the Sterling College football team.

“To hear of Esther’s and Xavier’s passing is a tragedy,” said Scott Rich, Sterling president. “Their involvement on campus brought energy and we enjoyed them both at Sterling. We will miss them deeply. At this time, we pray for peace for the families and their Sterling College families. They were loved by many students, staff and faculty here. We are praying for the comfort we know only the Lord will bring during times like these.”

The college is providing counseling services for Sterling students in the student life office. The college also held a prayer service Monday evening at the Gleason Center.

The patrol indicated a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze driven northbound on Sego Road by Jenkerson pulled from the stop sign at U.S. 50 into the path of a westbound 2014 semi, driven by Edwin G. Lehmann, 59, of Lehigh. The car then ran into the north ditch and overturned. Lehmann was not injured.

The semi was towing an ammonia trailer, but there was no leak.

The 7:23 a.m. crash shut down a segment of the highway for several hours while officials investigated the incident. The Kansas Department of Transportation decided about 9:40 a.m. to close both roads and reroute traffic to Fourth Avenue or Trails West Road so its Critical Incident Response Team to conduct an investigation.

Monday’s wreck marks the second fatality crash at the intersection 14 miles west of South Hutchinson in just over three weeks, though the first one occurred before Sego Road became a detour for a bridge project on K-61 at Arlington.

A 19-year-old Ransom woman, Kara L. McLain, died Oct. 14 when she failed to yield while heading northbound on Sego Road and her 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt was hit by an eastbound semi driven by a Buhler man, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol crash log.

“There are no plans to change the detour route,” said Zachary Oswald, KDOT’s public information officer in Hutchinson.

There are, however, preliminary discussions about installing temporary flashing lights or rumble strips on Sego Road, Oswald said.

Source :
Sterling College students die in double-fatality crash at U.S. 50, Sego Road