TRUCK DRIVER IN FATAL CRASH NOT ON DRUGS, PATROL SAYS

Marshall, Mo. - A tractor-trailer driver charged with five counts of
involuntary manslaughter in a fatal crash did not have drugs in his system
after all, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said Thursday.

A drug technician's report from Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall incorrectly
indicated traces of amphetamines, marijuana and barbiturates in 44-year-old
John Kendrix's system, the patrol said.

Kendrix's truck crossed the Interstate 70 median Sunday about 65 miles east
of Kansas City and struck a pickup nearly head on, killing Debra Sprouse,
45, of Lee's Summit and her two children, Ashley Sprouse, 14, and Zachary
Corn, 8; Ashley Curl, 15, of Overland Park, Kan.; and Scott Schrier, 45, of
Lee's Summit.

Kendrix, of Moultrie, Ga., remained Thursday evening in the Saline County
jail on $350,000 bail. He was charged Monday with five felony counts of
involuntary manslaughter.

Saline County prosecutors said they planned to downgrade the charges this
morning to five counts of involuntary manslaughter in the second- degree,
which are Class D felonies. The initial charges were more severe Class C
felonies. If convicted of the lesser charges, Kendrix faces five years in
prison on each count.

Lt. Tim Hull of the highway patrol said the case remained under
investigation Thursday.

The victims had been returning to Kansas City from a championship horse
show in Louisville, Ky. Their pickup was pulling a horse trailer, and the
horse also died in the crash.

Hull said that when investigating accidents, the patrol does its own drug
tests. However, Hull didn't think the patrol's test had been completed when
word came from the hospital that there was an error.