Four teens hurt when car hits tree at El Dorado Lake

A speeding car carrying four teens crashed into a tree at El Dorado Lake on Sunday, leaving them injured.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said the driver of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro – 18-year-old Lake Vaughn Starnes of Wichita – was traveling at speeds too fast “to maintain control” of the car, veered off the road and struck the tree at about 8:40 p.m. Sunday. Two of the teens had climbed out of the car by the time first responders arrived at the crash site, which is near one of the Boulder Bluff camping areas of the state park. Authorities had to use the jaws of life to get the other two out, the El Dorado Fire Department said on Facebook.

All four teens were taken to Wichita hospitals for treatment.

Starnes went to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis, the highway patrol said. The passengers in the Camaro – 19-year-old Kori Dawn Callies of El Dorado, 15-year-old Kati Lynn Barrett of Augusta and 17-year-old Jackson Jay Isom of Ozark, Mo. – all went to Wesley Medical Center, the highway patrol said.

Two traveled to the hospital by ambulance. The other two were taken by helicopter, the El Dorado Fire Department said.

This story was originally published June 19, 2017 at 10:29 AM with the headline "Four teens hurt when car hits tree at El Dorado Lake."