Shawnee County, KS : Man, woman injured after injury crash on bridge in Willard on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

A man and woman suffered injuries that weren’t thought to be life-threatening Wednesday at Willard in far western Shawnee County when the car they were in became impaled on a guardrail and came to rest hanging slightly off a small bridge, authorities said.

The victims’ names weren’t immediately being released.

Law enforcement officers, firefighters and ambulance workers were called at 12:29 p.m. on a report that a car was hanging off the Willard Bridge over the Kansas River on N.W. Carlson Road, said Chief Dirk Christian of Topeka Fire District No. 4.

He said authorities found nothing on that bridge but then determined a car with a Johnson County license tag had struck a guardrail on a bridge over a small creek or stream about a block south of 2nd and Gilkerson.

Jason Connell, police chief for the cities of Willard and Rossville, said the woman driving the car rounded a 90-degree curve and started south before she lost control, spun out and — while going southeast — struck a guardrail at the southeast corner of the bridge.

The car struck the guardrail hard, Christian said.

“There’s almost 12 inches of impingement from the bridge itself into the passenger compartment of the vehicle,” he said.

The woman suffered a broken leg, according a Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center dispatcher. Both occupants were going to receive hospital treatment, Christian said.

He said firefighters from both Willard and Rossville responded to the scene.

Willard is along Shawnee County’s western boundary, immediately south of the Kansas River and about 2 miles north of Interstate 70.

Connell said his department was investigating.

Source :
Man, woman hospitalized after injury crash on bridge in Willard