Melina Chavez Obituary, Death – The Kansas State Patrol has reported that on Christmas Eve, there were two separate rollover accidents that both occurred in the western part of the state. Both of these accidents resulted in the loss of life for Kansas residents. The initial collision occurred at approximately 6:15 p.m. on K-156 in Finney County, which can be found to the east of US-83. According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Melina Chavez, age 23, was driving west when her Ford Edge left the roadway on the right, went back across the road, and went off the left side of the road.
Melina’s accident was reported to have occurred on the left side of the road. After getting into a ditch, the sport utility vehicle rolled an uncountable amount of times before finally coming to a stop. Chavez, who had been brought to a hospital in Garden City after being transported there from her hometown of Great Bend, ultimately passed away there. At the time of the collision, the Kentucky Highway Patrol’s crash log indicates that she was not wearing her seat belt as required by law in the state of Kentucky. It is not known what caused her vehicle to initially veer off the roadway in the first place; this happened in the beginning.
The second fatal accident happened on Saturday evening around 9 o’clock in Graham County, southwest of Hill City, at the intersection of North Road and 255th Avenue. It was a head-on collision between two vehicles. The patrol reports that 40-year-old Ali Swanson was driving eastbound on North Road when she was unable to negotiate a curve in the road due to a lack of road awareness. The driver of the Cadillac DeVille that was involved in the accident lost control of the vehicle, which resulted in the car rolling over onto its roof.
At the scene, it was determined that Swanson, who was originally from Salina, had passed away. The report of the accident states that he was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision.