One Arkansas City man was killed and a second flown to a Wichita hospital following a one-car accident Monday morning on the E. Chestnut Avenue underpass in Arkansas City, police chief Sean Wallace said.
Jose Sigala, 19, was pronounced dead at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center in Ark City. Leobardo Navarro, 25, was air lifted to Via Christy Regional Medical Center where he was listed in critical condition this afternoon.
“We’re currently investigating if alcohol was a factor in the accident,” Wallace said.
At 9:30 a.m. a motorist called the police department to report a white Ford Mustang was doing donuts in the middle of the intersection of Kansas Avenue and the by-pass.
“There happened to be a patrol car northbound on the bypass at that time,” Wallace said. “Before he arrived at Kansas, he observed a white Mustang southbound on the bypass at a high rate of speed.”
The officer locked in the speed on his radar and turned to pursue the car for speeding. The officer also turned on his sirens to try to get the driver of the Mustang to stop, but Wallace said the officer was so far behind that the other driver may not have known the officer was behind him.
“In between the bypass and Mill Road, (the officer) observed an explosion and a huge ball of fire,” Wallace said.
The office notified the department of the accident and requested fire and EMS be dispatched to the scene. “He exited his vehicle and observed two individuals had been ejected from the car and were lying in the sidewalk area under the underpass,” the chief said.
“He couldn’t get to them because of the flames. The fire department arrived shortly after and put the fire out and began treating the victims,” Wallace said.
Both men were transported to the hospital by local ambulance. Navarro was flown by air ambulance to the Wichita hospital.
The force of the impact threw the victims from the 1987 Ford Mustang. Whether they were wearing seat belts has not yet been determined.
