A suicidal man who forced the closing of Interstate 70 near Manhattan after releasing dangerous chemicals in his car has died.
The man has been identified as a 20-year-old resident of Lawrence. The man died Tuesday at a hospital in Wichita, where he was flown after being decontaminated.
Northeast Kansas law enforcement closed a stretch of I-70 late Monday night into early Tuesday morning after an as-yet-unidentified male phone Riley County Dispatch expressing the need for the phone number to a suicide hotline.
According to Kansas Highway Patrol Lieutenant Gregory Harkrader, RCPD dispatchers were able locate the subject on I-70 near Manhattan after the call came in around 10:30 p.m., at which time a KHP officer and an RCPD officer approached the subject’s vehicle as it was parked on the north shoulder of the westbound lanes of the interstate. The subject advised the officers to stay back, as there were chemicals inside the vehicle. At that time, both lanes of I-70 were closed between mile markers 316 and 318.
Negotiations with the subject were attempted for several hours before the Riley County Police Department deployed their EOD robot to survey the vehicle, where it was discovered the unidentified male was unresponsive. A small group of officers in chemical suits approached and extricated the subject from the vehicle. He was decontaminated and and transported by Riley County EMS to Mercy Regional Health Center, where he was later transported to Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita and later died.
An unknown amount of various chemicals were discovered inside the vehicle. Both lanes of I-70 were fully opened up to traffic this morning at 5:37 a.m.
Riley County Fire, the Manhattan Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit, and the KBI also responded to the incident.
