Speed played a key role in a traffic accident on N. College Street late Monday night that left the driver in critical condition with severe burns over most of his body.
“And I would say that alcohol was involved,” Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Bob LeVelle, said.
Test results in regard to the alcohol are pending. LeVelle does know for sure that both the driver, Steven Shamburg, and a passenger, Gary Hardesty, Jr., were wearing seat belts when the 1993 Nissan ran off a curved section of the road into the north ditch and struck a tree.
Shamburg unlatched his seat belt but it never retracted,” LeVelle said. “All the nylon strap melted…”
The fire which destroyed the car may have been caused when the impact knocked the fuel line loose, or it could have been an electrical fire, he said.
“It doesn’t take long for a car fire to really get going good,” LeVelle said.
The ditch is about six feet deep. Hardesty was able to crawl out of the wreckage but Shamburg was trapped for a time. A passer-by spotted the fire, but not the car.
He turned around and went back to check the fire, which was near several tank batteries. That’s when Hardesty told the passer-by, who did not want to be identified, that Shamburg was still in the burning car.
Shamburg, 45, a house painter from Winfield, was finally able to get partially out of the burning vehicle and rescuers helped him the rest of the way. He remained in critical condition Thursday morning in the burn unit at Via Christi Regional Medical Center – St. Francis Campus in Wichita.
Hardesty, 32, was not badly injured. He is from Indiana and has been in Winfield only about a week working.
“They had just met that evening,” LeVelle said.
A fund has been set up to help the family with expenses. To donate to the Shamburg Family Fund visit any Union State Bank or Cornerbank location.
