SHAWNEE COUNTY, Kan. – A Carbondale teen died Friday from her injuries sustained in a wrong-way driver accident Wednesday evening on U.S. Highway 75, and a Scranton man has been arrested on charges connected with the accident.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported that Anthony Ray Tugwell, 40, Scranton, Kan., was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Impala northbound in the southbound lanes of U.S. 75, near 97th Street in Shawnee County, around 9 p.m. Feb. 15, 2023, when his vehicle ran head on into a southbound 1995 Dodge Intrepid driven by Alyssa Marie Lee, 16, of Carbondale, Kan. The location is about 1.5 miles north of the Osage County-Shawnee County line.
Both drivers were transported to Stormont Vail Hospital, Topeka, where Lee later died. Each were the sole occupants of their vehicles and had safety restraints in use.
Tugwell was reported as having minor injuries; he was arrested by the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office and booked into the Shawnee County Jail Thursday on charges of aggravated battery, driving under the influence causing great bodily harm or disfigurement, driving under influence of alcohol or drugs misdemeanor, and driving the opposite direction on divided highway. Jail records show he is being held on $50,000 cash or surety bond, and a first court date has been set for 1 p.m. June 1, 2023, in Shawnee County District Court.
Osage County District Court records indicate Tugwell is currently under a 24-month probation order after a conviction last year of failure to comply with offender registration. Part of the conditions of probation include that he must not possess or consume narcotics or controlled substances except as prescribed, or use alcohol or cereal malt beverage. He was required to register as an offender due to a 2011 conviction in Shawnee County of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.