One killed, one injured riding atop bus
Sunday, November 19, 2006 10:51 pm
One person killed and a Salinan receiving a critical head injury both struck a concrete bridge as they were riding atop a Kansas State University fan bus passing underneath the bridge on its way to the University of Kansas-Kansas State University football game in Lawrence Saturday, according to sources and media reports concerning the crash.
One of the people aboard the bus who witnessed the incident was Brian Gates, Beloit.
Gates was with former Salina Journal sports reporter Chris Orr on the "The Cat Tracker" bus, used for years by Kansas State football fans to travel to and from road games. The bus has an outdoor porch attached to the back, with a ladder leading to a metal deck on top, where the injured fans were seated.
Gates said Sunday that he and others have been told not to publicly discuss details of what they saw because of possible liabilities arising from the incident. There was a group, he estimated at fewer than a dozen, seated with him and Orr atop the bus.
The incident happened just after 11:30 a.m., as the bus, traveling northbound, passed under a bridge above the 1700 block of Iowa Street. The bridge connects KU residence halls with the west campus and the Lied Center performing arts center.
The bus stopped just north of 15th and Iowa streets and didn't appear to be damaged, the Lawrence Journal-World reported. Fans later saw emergency medical personnel working on the top deck of the bus.
Lawrence Police representatives Sunday had not released the name of victim killed. Orr was taken by helicopter to the University of Kansas Hospital suffering from a head injury.
Hospital spokesman Dennis McCulloch said Sunday that Orr remained in critical but stable condition at the hospital's neuro-intensive care unit in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday afternoon.
Orr left the Journal about 21/2 years ago to found a high school sports publication. He was managing a store at Salina's Central Mall, The Jacket Shack, and doing some color commentary for KSAL Radio sports broadcasts.
Orr and his wife, Stacey, have two young sons.
State records show the Cat Tracker bus is owned by Manhattan attorney and developer Robert Pottroff. The Journal-World reported Sunday that Pottroff incorporated a business, Kat Tracker Promos LLC, but the business's last annual report was filed in 1993.
Pottroff also is associated with Skyscapes of Lawrence LLC, which is working on a project at the intersection near 12th and Indiana streets in Lawrence, the Journal-World reported.
Pottroff could not be reached Sunday night for comment.
