Teen who biked into semi mourned
Staff writer
At least 100 people attended a vigil Tuesday night in Hillsboro to honor the life of a 13-year-old boy who was killed when he drove his bike into a semi.
The service was near the site of the Thursday accident that took his life. Mourners had placed remembrances on a fence near the intersection.
The vigil, which was livestreamed on social media by Hillsboro resident Shelby Johnson, was off limits to news media.
A staff photographer from the Marion Record was ordered to leave and escorted from a nearby sidewalk to her car by several people who identified themselves as relatives of the boy.
Trevor Dayton Adams Wullenweber, Milford, was killed instantly when he drove his bicycle into the side of a turning grain truck and was run over.
The Peterbuilt semi was driven by Brendan Jay Reimer, 52, of Hillsboro, and loaded with 42 tons of soybeans.
The semi was traveling south and turning left onto D St. when Trevor, who also was southbound drove into it, to the semi’s left, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported.
A person who said she witnessed the accident said the semi already was in the intersection when Trevor, looking down, rode through a stop sign and into the side of the trailer and was run over by the front wheels of the trailer.
Watching it happen, she yelled, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”
The witness, who was driving westbound, wondered whether Trevor had seen the stop sign.
The intersection has four-way stop signs and a four-way flashing stoplight.
A social media post by one of Trevor’s relatives said the family did not blame the driver of the truck and that one family member hugged him for 10 minutes to help comfort him.
Trevor’s body lay covered by a blanket in the inner westbound lane of D St., just east of the intersection with Ash St., as Hillsboro and Goessel police, sheriff’s deputies, emergency medical personnel, Hillsboro firefighters, coroner Don Hodson, and a game warden converged on the scene.
The semi, owned by Pleasant Hill Inc., 1565 Kanza Rd., stopped in the eastbound lane, just east of Jost service station. The driver, apparently unaware of the accident, reportedly had to be flagged down.
Emergency responders waited for a Highway Patrol trooper to arrive from the Troop C headquarters in Salina, an hour’s drive away.
Officers and EMTs originally had difficulty identifying the victim.
The Highway Patrol’s Critical Accident Highway Response Team and its motor carrier inspectors are investigating the accident.
A private celebration of life service for Trevor is planned for the end of September.
Sympathy cards for the family are being accepted at Hillsboro’s Sonic Drive-in.