Off-duty police officer killed in Wednesday morning crash

Posted: January 2, 2013 - 3:01am
Updated: January 3, 2013 - 12:42am

Lawrence police officer Matthew Edward Klock, 29
Photo provided by the Lawrence Police Department

Update:

Lawrence Police and the Kansas Highway Patrol confirmed early Wednesday evening that the man killed in this morning's accident was an off-duty Lawrence police officer.

Troopers say Officer Matthew Edward Klock, 29, was killed when his 2012 Nissan Altima collided with a pole near W. 6th Street and Wakarusa Drive.

The Kansas Highway Patrol crash log of the incident says that Klock's vehicle was eastbound on the inside lane of 6th Street, when the vehicle went left of center and struck a light pole on the east side of the intersection with Wakarusa Drive. Klock was not wearing a seat belt. Troopers continue to investigate what, if any, role alcohol or slick roads may have played in the accident's cause.

Klock joined the Lawrence Police Department in 2007.

Lawrence Police Sergeant Trent McKinley told 6 News Lawrence that "a member of the force drove to Derby, Kansas, where Klock grew up, to personally notify family members this morning."

Original report:

Lawrence Police are investigating this morning after one person was fatally injured in an apparent single vehicle accident.

Officers were initially dispatched on a non-injury accident at the intersection of W. 6th Street and Wakarusa Drive just after 2:15 Wednesday morning.

On arrival at 2:20 a.m., officers reported the lone occupant of the vehicle was unconscious. Medics were immediately dispatched to the scene and upon their arrival reported one vehicle with "major damage".

The occupant was initially said to be in critical condition as of 2:30 a.m.. Medics pronounced the person to be deceased at the scene, just before 2:40 a.m..

Police have shutdown the intersection completely as they investigate the accident.

Very few details were immediately available. It remains unclear what the vehicle struck.

Report from Operation 100 News' reporting partners at the Lawrence Journal-World.

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You saw this story as it broke from Operation 100 News on Twitter. No details from any Kansas City area media until after 5:30 a.m., 20 minutes after this report was shared on Operation 100's public twitter account (@Op100News).

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