Johnson County, KS : One person was killed and three others were injured in a seven-vehicle collision on northbound I-35 just south of 67th Street in Merriam on Tuesday, 10th December, 2019

One person was killed and three others were injured in a seven-vehicle collision Tuesday morning on Interstate 35 in Johnson County, authorities said.

The crash was reported at 10:38 a.m. on northbound I-35 just south of 67th Street in Merriam.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, a 2016 Kenworth semi-trailer had become disabled and was parked partially on the inside lane of travel and on the inside shoulder of the highway.

A 2010 Ford Econoline van that was traveling north on I-35 in the inside lane struck the rear of the semi, forcing it to rotate in the center lanes of travel.

As the Ford van moved north and rotated, a 2019 BMW 530i struck its driver’s-side front corner. The Ford van then rotated clockwise and continued to travel north across the driving lanes.

A 2018 Toyota RAV-4 attempted to avoid the collision, but struck the Ford on the rear corner of its driver’s side. The patrol said this impact forced the Toyota to rotate across the northbound lanes.

A 2017 Nissan Versa attempted to avoid the collision by traveling to the right, but struck the rear of the Toyota with its driver’s side front corner.

During the avoidance maneuver, the Nissan sideswiped the driver’s-side front corner of a 2008 Cadillac Escalade.

A 2013 Kia Forte then struck the rear of the Cadillac, which was traveling to the right. The Cadillac then struck the outside concrete bridge rail over 67th Street.

The Ford van, the BMW and the Toyota came to rest in the northbound lanes of travel. The Nissan, Cadillac and Kia came to rest on the northbound outside shoulder.

Source