Andy Frank sits in a wheelchair near the McDonald's that is close to the Walmart Supercenter at 2825 N. Kansas Expressway. He holds a sign asking for money.
It's 11:30 a.m. Monday and traffic is thick along this heavily commercialized stretch of roadway. Just to the north, Kansas Expressway does its diverging diamond maneuver and intersects with Interstate 44.
I ask Frank, 47, if he knew Todd Allen Tennison, who was run over Sept. 29 by a tractor-trailer pulling a 52-foot box trailer. Tennison died two days later.
Yes, he tells me. But there's more.
Frank knows two other people — homeless, too — who have died since March in incidents involving vehicles in Springfield.
Police Chief Paul Williams, citing the death of Tennison, announced this month that police will focus on enforcing a 2017 city law that allows police to fine or arrest pedestrians or drivers for violations.
For example, city ordinance has rules as to when pedestrians may cross a roadway outside of crosswalks or intersections. It also makes it illegal for drivers and their passengers to stop on a major street to give panhandlers money or anything else.
‘This truck blew through the intersection'
Based on my brief conversation with Frank, it appears the problem of pedestrian deaths — at least in part — intersects with homelessness.
Frank tells me he was with his fiancée, Donna Kay Campbell, 42, when she was struck by a dark-colored pickup at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, March 6, while crossing Glenstone.
A witness — a nurse named Brianna Stoops — confirmed the couple was in the crosswalk and had the “walk” symbol lit. My colleague Jackie Rehwald wrote about this.
“This truck blew through the intersection going every bit of 50 or 60 miles per hour,” Stoops said. “Didn’t stop. Didn’t hit their brakes. Nothing.”
Tennison, unlike Campbell, was not a pedestrian when he was struck. A pedestrian is someone who is walking. Tennison was sitting down. He was just off of North Kansas Expressway, but near the roadway. He was panhandling that day, as was Frank, Frank says.
Frank says he was nearby, but did not see Tennison get run over.
Tennison was struck as the tractor-trailer left the parking lot at the Walmart Supercenter at about 9:54 a.m. to head south on Kanas Expressway.
According to police, the 52-foot box trailer jumped the curb and ran over Tennison. The driver did not stop. Tennison was taken to the hospital and later died.
Police say they now know who the driver is and are investigating.
He knew another homeless man who died
Frank says he knew Tennison and that Tennison helped him and Campbell (Frank's fiancée) gather some of their belongings when Greene County sheriff's deputies busted up their homeless camp Feb. 10.
The camp was is in a wooded area near the Walmart Supercenter, behind the former Waffle House at the intersection of Kansas Expressway and I-44.
Frank also knew Gary Barlow, a homeless person who panhandled near the Walmart Supercenter. He died July 14.
Barlow's death wasn't exactly a normal traffic accident.
Barlow, 46, born in Richmond, Virginia, reportedly clung to a dark-colored minivan as it was traveling north on Kansas Expressway at 12:33 a.m.
The van reportedly turned eastbound onto I-44, where Barlow fell onto the traffic onramp and later died.
My colleague Jack McGee wrote about this death.
Springfield police continue to investigate all three deaths: Tennison, Campbell and Barlow.
This is Pokin Around column No. 137.
