Martin Salas, 26, of Council Grove was receiving treatment this morning at Newman Regional Health, where he was taken after being thrown from his pickup in a one-vehicle accident early this morning east of Northern Heights High School.
Lyon County Sheriff Gary Eichorn said that the accident was reported about 4:32 a.m. today, after someone spotted Salas’s overturned pickup truck in a ditch on the north side of U.S. Highway 56.
“It’s not a real well-traveled highway up there that time of night,” Eichorn said. “... They’re kind of thinking he’d been there about an hour. He was talking to them a little bit.”
Eichorn said that Salas had been thrown approximately 80 feet away from the truck. He was found across a fence and in a pasture, in front of the truck in the ditch.
Apparently, Salas missed a curve as he was driving east along Highway 56, Eichorn said.
The investigation showed that the pickup had left the roadway, entered the north ditch and struck an embankment, causing the pickup to roll and come to rest on its side.
Because of fog this morning, LifeTeam helicoopter ambulance could not be used to take Salas for treatment. He was brought by Emporia-Lyon County Ambulance Service to Newman Regional Health.
Lyon County EMS was assisted by the Admire Fire Department. Emporia Police Department officers went to Newman to assist county deputies in the investigation, which is continuing.