BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — Two people were killed on Interstate 70 late Wednesday night and a Blue Springs woman says she witnessed part of the accident.
“I first see a car pulled off to the side, it had flashers on. My first initial thought is someone is broken down,” said 26-year-old witness Jessica Muirhead.
She said she was driving in the left lane with a semi-truck driving in the lane next to her when she saw a man standing in the road.
“Waving his hands like this,” Muirhead said as she motioned. “Right when I took my eyes off of seeing that person to look forward, the semi jerked its way fast straight into my lane and I veered off toward the guard rail,” she recalled.
Luckily she didn’t hit the rail, but she stopped to take a look around. She said the semi kept driving.
“I looked to the right, outside of my window and I see a man laying on the ground and clearly he was gone… he was dead,” Muirhead said.
She said one victim was lying right outside her passenger side window.
“It was the same man that I saw doing this in the lanes that was laying on the pavement,” Muirhead said, motioning with her hands.
She said there was a cop car parked about 200 feet in front of her on the shoulder with no emergency lights on.
“Seeing the police officer, I thought they were already notified,” she added.
According to the Independence Police Department, the officer in that car thinks he may have struck and killed the second victim. But Muirhead said she only saw the one man who was waving his arms.
She says she thinks the semi tried to avoid the man by swerving into her lane, but ultimately hit him.
“The man was standing before the semi went past and all of a sudden he was on the ground, and since I wasn’t on the right side I did not see the direct strike,” said Muirhead. “I think I saw the person before he did, and I think by the time he did it was too late.”
Muirhead says there’s not much of a shoulder on the side of the highway. She believes the victims’ car probably broke down and they were trying to get help. Police say they’re still investigating and notifying family members at this time.