Crash kills one teen, seriously injures another

A 16-year-old Hillsboro boy was killed, and another was seriously injured at 5 p.m. Saturday when their pickup truck left Jade Rd. north of 170th Rd. and rolled three times in a field.

Driver Sutton M. Redger was dead at the scene. Passenger Sean D. Mader was taken to Wesley Medical Center, Wichita.

According to Kansas Highway Patrol, their southbound 1991 Chevrolet Silverado left the road to the east after going over a low-water crossing, became unstable, and rolled.

Emergency responders said both boys were ejected from the truck. Neither was wearing a seat belt, according to the highway patrol.

The low-water crossing, which bends slightly to the west, is marked as a 20 mph dip but otherwise is unguarded, with a decaying shoulder.

Redger was a member of Hillsboro High School’s football and wrestling teams.

Mader’s brother, Seth, died, also at age 16, in an ATV accident in November, 2022, at Marion County Lake.

The first call to rescuers did not come until 6:32 p.m., more than an hour and a half after the highway patrol said the wreck occurred.

Hillsboro firefighters and Hillsboro and Marion ambulances were dispatched.

Dispatchers warned rescuers that a caller had said one of the victims was not breathing but that the caller had not been willing to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

At the request of ambulance attendants, dispatchers contacted three helicopter ambulance services before finding one that could respond, but it was an hour away, and the call was canceled.

Mader was taken to Wesley by Marion ambulance while Hillsboro ambulance remained at the scene until a coroner released the body. Tampa ambulance stood by in Hillsboro in case additional calls were received.