Turnpike accident involves 10 vehicles

A 10-vehicle accident Thursday on the Kansas Turnpike near El Dorado injured seven people, according to the accident reports.

The accident occurred when the vehicles, traveling south, drove into smoke crossing the roadway and collided after one vehicle stopped in the roadway due to reduced visibility.

The first vehicle was a 2003 Volvo, driven by Luis Rocha-Tapia, 27, of Kansas City. Rocha-Tapia was not injured. A passenger in that vehicle, George Rocha, 3, of Kansas City, was injured.

His car was rear-ended by a 2005 Hyundai Elantra, driven by Sharon White, 31, of Ames, Iowa, who also was not injured.

The third car involved was a 2010 Dodge Journey, driven by Teresa Rackham, 59, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who was not injured.

Also involved in the accident was Kelli Denton, 16, of Shawnee, who was driving a 2005 Ford Explorer. She was not injured but a passenger in her vehicle, Becky Denton, of Shawnee, was injured.

The fifth vehicle to get involved in the accident was a 2005 Honda driven by Sharon Bell, 59, of El Dorado. She was not injured.

Kelly Johnson, 39, of Hutchinson, who was driving a 2002 Hyundai, next drove into the smoke and collided with the stopped cars. She was injured in the accident.

Also involved in the accident was Richard Kaufman, 52, of Wichita, who was driving a 2008 Volvo semi tractor. He had stopped for the accident. Terri Elizabeth Bybee, 48, of Wichita, driving a 1999 Chrysler, also had stopped for the accident. Her vehicle was struck by a 2010 GMC SUV, driven by Laura Lane Graham, 42, of Wichita, causing Bybee's vehicle to strike Kaufman's. Graham and Bybee were injured.

The final two vehicles involved in the accident were a 2007 Toyota driven by Darcy Lee Mathes, 50, of Wichita, and a 2009 Freightliner driven by Warren Dean Grover, 30, of Phoenix. Grover had stopped due to the accident ahead of him and was rear ended by Mathes. Mathes was injured in the accident, as was a passenger in Grover's vehicle, Christenna Warren, 30, of Alvarado, Texas.

There were no fatalities in the accident.