Man hospitalized after vehicle leaves highway

By Everett Brazil, III

The Newkirk Herald Journal

NEWKIRK — One man was hospitalized Friday morning, April 16 after his vehicle left the highway and crashed into a drainage ditch.

Firefighters received a call of an accident on U.S. Highway 77 at Bender Road about 9:42 a.m. to find a Chevrolet Silverado immobilized in the ditch.

“The victim left the road for an unknown reason, and hit the new drainage system ODOT put in,” said Fire Chief Adam Longcrier. “He hit it at highway speed, about 60 miles an hour.”
Responders found him conscious and alert, but with injuries to his legs, back, neck and chest, and due to the tightness of the ditch, they had to extricate him. He was loaded into an ambulance and transported to AllianceHealth Ponca City.

“We were going to fly him due to the way his vehicle looked, but Air-Evac wouldn’t fly because of the weather, so we took him by ambulance,” Longcrier said.

There were no other victims or injuries, he said. The Kay County Sheriff’s Office also aided the Fire Department.