Dec 06, 2022

20-year-old dead after head-on crash on Kansas highway

Posted Dec 06, 2022 3:00 AM

CHEROKEE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 3p.m. Monday in Cherokee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Pontiac G6 driven by 20-year-old Trey Cunningham of Grove, Oklahoma, was northbound on U69 Alternate one and one half miles north of U.S. 166 Highway.

The car crossed the center line and struck a southbound 2016 GMC truck driven by Shannon L. Taft, 51, Baxter Springs.

EMS transported Cunningham and Taft to Freeman West Hospital in Joplin where he was pronounced dead. EMS transported a passenger in the Pontiac Valeria Lerma, 21, Miami, Oklahoma, to Mercy Hospital in Joplin. Cunningham was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.