ELLIS COUNTY, Kan. -- A near-tragic event prompted the daughter of a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper to raise awareness for Kansas' "move over" law in hopes of expanding it and making penalties more serious.
At about 9 a.m. on April 26, Trooper Shawn Summers was conducting a routine vehicle inspection near mile-marker 144 in Ellis County, Kansas.
Summers is a 16-year veteran and had done hundreds of routine traffic stops throughout his career, but on this particular occasion, he was seconds away from tragedy.
"I had stopped a vehicle for a truck inspection on Interstate 70 and went up to the driver, opened the driver's door and stepped up on the first step. Blessed that I did that. I wasn’t there just a few seconds talking with the driver and it sounded like a bomb went off," Summers said. "I wasn’t sure if her truck blew up or what. I looked to her and looked in the front and seen the semi that had hit my patrol car go into the ditch and through the barbed wire fence."
A second semi-truck did not move over to allow space for the stopped emergency vehicle, as required by Kansas state statute 8-1530, and struck Summers' patrol vehicle, barely missing him as he stood on the original truck he stopped.
"I've had people not move over before, but nothing of this magnitude. This was as close to a fatality as you could probably get," Summers said.
His oldest of four children, Stanna, was in school when she got a call from her mom to the secretary's phone telling her to call her back from her personal phone.
"I left the school and went to my car and my mom said, 'Stanna, your dad's been in an accident. He's in an ambulance and he's on the way to the hospital," Stanna said. "When you get those phone calls you really don’t know what to do. It's like time stops and you get really sick to your stomach. I immediately left school and went to the hospital to see my dad and I was just so grateful that he was talking, because I had seen his car before I got there and I thought, 'He's gone.'"
Stanna felt like "one of the lucky ones" when she knew Summers was okay, but she took to Facebook to share her family's experience and spread awareness for the move-over law.
"People need to keep in mind that they’re not only moving over for that person on the side of the road, they're moving over for every single person that loves and cares for that person," Stanna said.
Shawn and Stanna believe the law should be expanded to anyone that is stopped on the side of the road and not just emergency vehicles.
"I definitely think the law should be more than just emergency vehicles. If I were changing a flat tire on the side of the road I would want someone to move over for me," Stanna said. "I think it should go even deeper than seeing flashing lights. If you see anything on the side of the road you need to move over."
Stanna's post has been shared over 2,000 times and she said she's received messages from all over the country in support.
"It makes me feel better that it is getting out and that it could possibly make a difference," Stanna said. "To have it reaching other states is huge and I'm so incredibly thankful for that and I want to thank everybody who has supported me and shared the post."
The father-daughter duo hope everyone will hear their story, and others like it, and move over next time they see any vehicle stopped on the side of the road.
"It has been so touching. We're talkin troopers, law enforcement families from across the nation that have talked about some pretty deep things that really will stick you in the heart," Summers said. "Every one of these could have been avoided."
Another KHP trooper was also hit by a car that failed to move over recently. The crash left the trooper trapped in his car while emergency crews tried to save him.
