Monday update  The victim in a fatal head-on collision in southeast Kansas has been identified as a Pittsburg State University student.

30-year-old James Lee Potocnik was killed shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday on a highway north of Riverton when his SUV crossed the center line and struck a southbound tractor-trailer.

In a statement Monday, Pittsburg State officials said Potocnik was a junior majoring in electronics engineering. He was a native of the southeast Kansas town of Frontenac.

 

 Saturday 4 p.m. A Kansas man died in an early Saturday morning head on crash in Cherokee County.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol thirty-year-old James L. Potocnik Jr. of Frontenac was driving a 2008 Chevy Trailblazer northbound on U69 Alternate, a mile north of Riverton.

His vehicle went left of center and hit a 2011 Freightliner semi truck head on. The semi was driven by 46 year old John A. Shaw of Kansas City. Potocnik died at the scene. It is not known if he was wearing a seat belt. Shaw was transported to the hospital in Joplin.