Judy Ward Killed in Truck Accident in Park City, KS
Park City, KS -- December 6, 2022, Judy Ward was killed after an accident where a truck crashed with a flatbed truck.
Investigators said they responded to the crash scene just before 9:30 a.m. It happened at the intersection of Hydraulic and 85th Street.
It appears that 63-year-old Judy Ward was in a vehicle traveling westbound on 85th. Police believe a flatbed truck on southbound Hydraulic ran a stop sign, resulting in a collision with Ward's vehicle.
Due to the crash, Ward sustained fatal injuries. The truck driver, identified as Lewis Toombs, had unspecified injuries. No further information is available at this time.
Commentary on Judy Ward Truck Accident in Park City
With a crash like this, my main concern would be if investigators are giving it the attention it deserves. Folks see police say that a driver ran a stop sign, and they figure there's nothing else to discuss. Perhaps nothing unusual happened here, but even then having clear evidence is absolutely crucial for a family that no doubt wants to see justice done for their loss. Ensuring the right people are held accountable means anticipating the barriers they're likely to put between them and the appropriate consequences.
I'll give an example from a situation a family came to me with a while back. A truck driver cut someone off making a turn, resulting in a deadly wreck. Despite seemingly clear facts, they blamed the victim, saying they were speeding and not wearing their seatbelt. We knew this was a load of crap, but it was our burden to prove otherwise.
A few crucial steps in the independent investigations helped us do just that. One was finding that the victim's speedometer froze on impact. That combined with painstaking reconstruction of the crash site confirmed there was no way the victim could have been speeding. Additionally, numerous rescue workers testified they actually had to cut through the seatbelt to get the victim out of the wreckage.
In the end, it wasn't police blaming the truck driver that got the company to do right by the family. It was a mountain of evidence gathered through independent investigations which showed the company their blame-shifting had no ground to stand on. I wish I could say that was an unusually stubborn company, but that's what almost every family has to go through after a devastating wreck like the one described here. That's why I try my best to help inform people about challenges like those in the article below and what steps can be taken to overcome them. Are those steps being taken here?
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