Weather may have contributed to deadly crash in Butler County, highway patrol says

Weather conditions may have contributed to a crash in Butler County that killed a 19-year-old Kansas man Wednesday, state troopers said.

Emergency crews were called at around 6:24 a.m. to an accident on U.S. 400 about a mile east of Southeast Ellis Road, the Kansas Highway Patrol said in a crash report. Matthew C. Crouch, 19, of Climax, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators determined that Crouch was driving a westbound 2017 Toyota Corolla that crossed the center line and collided with an eastbound 2015 Ford F-450. The 31-year-old Cottonwood Falls man driving the pickup truck suffered minor injuries, troopers wrote in the crash report.

“Weather conditions at the time of crash may have been a contributing factor in the accident,” the crash report states.

The National Weather Service forecast had called for a chance of rain across much of south-central Kansas early Wednesday morning. Some of the storms were predicted to be strong or severe with a potential for heavy rainfall and localized flash flooding.

This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 4:37 PM.