BALDWIN — Iola Police Officer Michael Ford, his wife, Iola City Councilwoman Nancy Ford, and their family escaped serious injury following a head-on collision just outside Baldwin City on Sunday afternoon.
Mike Ford told the Register they were in his pickup when the other driver, a 20-year-old Baker University student, veered into their lane on U.S. 56.
“I saw her coming into our lane,” he recalled, as the other driver clipped the side of a trailer being towed in front of them.
Ford attempted to veer to the side to avoid the oncoming vehicle, but the vehicles collided head-on, sending both into the ditch.
The Fords, two of their daughters, McKinley Jackson and Reagan Ford, and their son-in-law, Shawn Jackson, were checked out at a local hospital.
“We’re all pretty sore,” Ford said. “My pickup, is a three-quarter-ton Dodge, and I’m sure that had a lot to do with us being OK.”
The other driver, whose name has not been released, was held overnight at the hospital for observation.
Ford said daughter McKinley has been keeping updated on the other driver’s condition.
“She thinks she fell asleep,” he said.
Officer, councilwoman escape injury
