Colorado trucker charged in deaths of 5 on Kansas Turnpike

LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (AP) — A truck driver from Greeley, Colorado, is charged with five counts of vehicular homicide for a fiery 2017 crash that killed five people on the Kansas Turnpike near Bonner Springs.

First responders on the scene of the fatal 2017 crash photo courtesy KSHB

Kenny B. Ford, 58, appeared without an attorney Friday in a Leaveworth County courtroom. The misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail on each count.

Traffic was backed up due to road construction on July 11, 2017, when Ford’s semi struck an SUV driven by 61-year-old Teresa J. Butler of Urbana, Illinois. Butler and her passenger, 63-year-old Karen Lynn Kennedy of New Palestine, Illinois, were killed.

The truck then struck two other cars, killing an elderly Topeka couple, Sheldon and Virginia Cohen, and 38-year-old Ricardo Mireles of Topeka.