COTTONWOOD FALLS — A pre-trial conference was scheduled this afternoon for a juvenile charged with involuntary manslaughter in the accidental death of Brittney Marie “Boo” Hajny.
District Judge W. Lee Fowler was to hear the case in Chase County District Court.
Hajny, who was 15, was pronounced dead at the scene of a one-vehicle accident on Aug. 14 on 210 Road east of Cottonwood Falls in Chase County. She was one of several passengers in a Toyota 4Runner driven by David Bud Allan Lehnherr, 17, of Cottonwood Falls.
In a complaint filed Dec. 3 with the court, Lehnherr is accused of reckless driving or driving too fast for conditions, a misdemeanor that Chase County District Attorney William T. North contends resulted in Hajny’s accidental death.
The involuntary manslaughter charge against Lehnherr is a Level 5 person felony, according to the complaint filed in the juvenile case.
According to a statement by Chase County Sheriff Richard Dorneker that was filed with the affidavit in the case, several people were following the Lehnherr vehicle on the county road and were rounding a turn in the road when they heard a “smack or pop.” The second vehicle continued and, when passengers could not see the Lehnherr vehicle, they backtracked and found the wreckage.
Dorneker wrote that path of the Lehnherr vehicle was “very obvious both on and off the roadway,” and that the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed prior to and during impacts with stationary objects and the ditch.
“Total distance from loss of vehicle control to point of rest on vehicle’s top totaled 823 feet,” Dorneker stated.
A passenger in the vehicle, Robert Martin, 16, estimated the Toyota rolled about three times.
Hajny died from head and chest injuries.
Lehnherr was taken by ambulance to Newman Regional Health for treatment of an injured arm. Another passenger in the vehicle, Cody Jergans, also was taken by ambulance to Newman. His leg had been pinned under the roof of the vehicle.
A third passenger, Levi Yoho, 16, was thrown from the vehicle. He sustained injuries to his left leg, neck and back, as well as cuts and abrasions. He was airlifted from the scene by helicopter and taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.
Martin refused ambulance transport and was taken to Newman by private vehicle for treatment of minor injuries.
mslater (Matt Slater) says...
It's not a great day in Cottonwood Falls.
April 28, 2010 at 12:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )