A three-vehicle wreck in Kalona ended with one person being transported by ambulance to the University of Iowa Hospital.  

On Monday around noon, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a multi-vehicle collision at Highway 1 (1st St.) and West H Avenue in Kalona. 

According to the accident report, a vehicle operated by Debra Popelka of Kalona was decelerating and stopping to await a vehicle operated by Audrey Schwartz of Kalona to pass through the intersection. A third vehicle operated by Samuel Eicher of Kalona did strike Popelka in the rear sending her vehicle across the centerline into the southbound lane of Highway 1. Popelka’s vehicle then struck Schwartz in the front and along the driver’s side. Schwartz entered the southwest ditch and came to rest facing northbound, as Popelka was forced into the middle of the W. H Ave. roadway facing northeast. Eicher then proceeded northbound on Highway. 1 a short distance and came to rest on the east shoulder of the highway.

Eicher informed the deputy that he looked down at his cellphone to answer a phone call, he then looked back up before the collision. Eicher was cited for failure to stop at an assured distance, and use of an electronic device. 

Popelka was transported to the University of Iowa via the Washington County Ambulance Service. All three vehicles were towed from the scene. Assisting the Washington County Sheriff’s Office was the Kalona Fire Department, Kalona QRS, Washington County Ambulance, and Bulltown Towing.