Wichita police identify man killed in west Wichita wreck
Wichita police identified the man killed in a fatal accident in the 13,200 block of W. 13th early Monday as 19-year-old Kaden Gottschalk of Wichita.
Lieutenant Joe Schroeder said Gottschalk lost control of his Mazda 3 and went off the roadway. The car struck a drainage culvert, hit three trees and came to rest near a community pool at 13th and Forestview.
"The culvert that he struck is actually several feet off the roadway," Schroeder said.
Residents in the area reported they heard a crash that night, but did not see any evidence of it when they looked out their windows. A passerby called in the wreckage around 6:30 a.m.
"He was wearing his seatbelt, but I will say that the damage to the car would indicate this was not a survivable collision," Schroeder said.
Schroeder said the vehicle was destroyed, indicating the crash happened at a high rate of speed. He said the roadway is safe in that area. The speed limit is 40 mph.
"That stretch of road is a fairly level, straight area," he said. "It is narrow in that area. However, traffic engineers have looked in that area, and the roadway meets the needs of that neighborhood that is there."
Gottschalk's family lives nearby. Schroeder said Gottschalk was coming home when the wreck happened.
This is Wichita's fourth fatality accident this year.
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