Emergency personnel work to free the cattle still in the trailer after an accident that overturned a tractor trailer last Wednesday night by Enders Lake. Five cattle succumbed from the accident and others that got loose were rounded up the next day. (Johnson Publications photo)
Five cattle succumb, 15 loose after tractor trailer overturns near lake
A driver may have been a little disoriented last week when the cattle-filled tractor trailer he was operating overturned near Enders Lake.
The accident on Highway 61, just off the Highway 6 turnoff to the dam, called out emergency personnel last Wednesday night to the scene and Imperial Beef workers the next day to round up strays.
Chase County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Mueller said driver Michael Bates, 59, of Cheyenne, Wyoming was operating the 2013 Peterbilt tractor with a trailer carrying 64 head of cattle when the accident occurred about 7:45 p.m. Jan. 9.
Mueller said the deputies were told by Bates he had picked up the cattle owned by Imperial Beef near Topeka, Kansas and was to deliver them to Oakley, Kansas, but evidently was lost.
Bates also told them he had been ill, Mueller said.
He was traveling north on Highway 61 and had just crossed the bridge over the dam. Mueller said it appeared he may have been traveling in excess of the 45 mph speed limit as he approached a curve in the highway that turned east.
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