By Aly Van Dyke and Ann Marie Bush
Topeka Capital-Journal
RILEY COUNTY, Kan. — Two people were killed and four Kansas State University students were injured in a two-vehicle wreck early Monday in Riley County.
Two occupants were pronounced dead at the scene, said Benjamin Gardner, technical trooper with the Kansas Highway Patrol. Another two were life-flighted to area hospitals, and the other two were taken to area hospitals via ambulance, he said.
The wreck occurred shortly before 3 a.m. near Scenic Drive at mile marker 186 of K-18 highway.
Patrol officers are still trying to determine the cause of the wreck, Gardner said, but preliminary evidence indicates a 2003 Chevy Silverado driven by Miles E. Theurer, 23, of Wellington, was traveling eastbound on K-18 in the westbound lane. Although the highway typically has a median, Gardner said, road construction has reduced the highway to two lanes with opposing traffic next to each other.
The Silverado struck a 2001 Buick LeSabre, driven by Elizabeth V. Young, 31, of White City. The LeSabre was westbound on K-18, too. The Silverado struck the LeSabre head-on, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol’s online crash log.
Young, who was wearing her seat belt, and her passenger, Michael L. Stanley, 32, of Ogden, were pronounced dead at the scene. Stanley wasn’t wearing his seat belt, according to the crash log.
Theurer, who wasn’t wearing his seat belt, was taken to Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan with injuries. Passenger Andrew C. Mason, 25, of Monument, Colo., who was wearing his seat belt, also was transported to Mercy Regional with injuries.
Passengers Joseph W. Iliff, 25, of Manhattan, and Lance S. Schmidt, 23, of Monroe, Neb., were transported to Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center. It is unknown if Iliff and Schmidt were wearing seat belts.
Conditions weren’t available on the four Monday night.
Theurer, Mason, Iliff and Schmidt all appear in photographs on the K-State class of 2014 College of Veterinary Medicine website.
The wreck shut down both directions of K-18 between Miller Parkway and Scenic Drive until 9:30 a.m.
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