$1.7 Million Verdict Against Wichita Over Faulty Street Closure That Trapped Motorcyclist

In June 2021, a Wichita motorcyclist was traveling northbound on McLean when the pickup truck in front of him braked suddenly at an intersection. The light above the intersection showed green, but yellow bollards had been placed across the road to close it. With no time to stop, the rider tried to swerve around the truck. His leg struck one of the barriers.

The injuries were severe. The man underwent five surgeries. For more than a year he could not walk normally, and metal prosthetics now replace portions of his bone structure. He asked that his name not be reported publicly.

The lawsuit named the City of Wichita as the responsible party. At trial, attorney Dustin L. DeVaughn argued that the city's permitting process for temporary street closures was fundamentally flawed: when a business or resident applied to block a street, the city handed off the responsibility for choosing appropriate traffic controls to that applicant, rather than having its own traffic engineers make those decisions. In this case the green signal remained active above an intersection physically blocked by city-placed bollards, with no advance warning, no police direction, and no modification to the light itself.

DeVaughn told the jury the city had clear options it did not use: switch the signal to flashing red, cover or bag the light entirely, or post advance warning signs before the intersection. None of those steps were taken.

The Sedgwick County jury agreed. It found the City of Wichita negligent for breaching its duty to maintain proper traffic control and returned a verdict of $1.7 million in August 2024. The city said it disagreed with the findings and was reviewing its options, but no post-trial reduction or appeal outcome has been reported.

The verdict drew attention beyond the courtroom. DeVaughn stated publicly that the outcome should prompt Wichita to revise how it administers street closure permits so that trained traffic engineers, not private applicants, bear responsibility for signal management whenever a road is blocked.