REVIEW: FALSE DRUG TEST WAS DONE PROPERLY

KANSAS CITY (AP) -- A drug screening performed on a truck driver involved
in an accident that killed five people last month was conducted properly,
although the results were wrong.

The screening tests resulted in false positives for three drugs, the
Missouri Highway Patrol and Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall said in a
written statement yesterday.

On Aug. 26, a tractor-trailer truck driven by John Kendrix, 44, of
Moultrie, Ga., crossed the Interstate 70 median near Sweet Springs and hit
a pickup truck, killing five Kansas City area residents.

The hospital's initial report said Kendrix had tested positive for
amphetamines, barbiturates and marijuana.

However, four days after the crash, the patrol's drug tests showed that
Kendrix had no illegal or prescription drugs in his system.

The drug screening procedures were performed properly, said Dick Brummel,
deputy regional administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services in Kansas City, which reviewed the procedures.

Stewart said the hospital initially remained quiet regarding the false
positive results because of patient confidentiality and because "it's hard
to explain the technicalities of false positives to the general public," he
said.

Highway patrol Capt. C.T. Ricks said the patrol is trying to determine why
Kendrix's truck crossed the median.

After the error was found, Saline County prosecutors downgraded the
involuntary manslaughter charge against Kendrix so that the maximum
penalty, if convicted, would be 25 years in jail instead of 35 years.