Charges have been filed in the 2005 death of KDOT worker Richard Cunningham, 46, a state highway worker who was killed in August 2005 when a tractor-trailer hauling rock slammed into a state vehicle.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Kansas Department of Transportation 1995 Ford dump truck, its alert lights activated, was parked facing north in the northbound lanes of Kansas Highway 130, approximately 7 miles south of Neosho Rapids.
Cunningham and co-worker Gary Burroughs were standing by the dump truck when the northbound tractor-trailer driven by Leonard T. Marks, of Manhattan, hit it from behind. The dump truck was pushed into the east ditch, pinning both Cunningham and Burroughs underneath. Burroughs survived the accident.
Lyon County Attorney Marc Goodman said Marks has been charged with vehicular homicide, battery, driving left of center, failure to yield and speeding. A pre-trial hearing has been set for 8:30 a.m. in District Court Magistrate Judge Thomas Conklin’s courtroom.