Giant Moth blamed for Monday accident

A giant moth flew in the face of Ty Guenot while he was driving on Monday, causing him to lose control and wreck a full-sized rental truck on U.S. Highway 54.

Guenot and a passenger, Cody Konstantem, were not injured in the single vehicle accident shortly after 11 a.m. on U.S. 54 about 6 miles west of Fort Scott. Guenot and Konstantem were checked out by emergency workers at the scene. Guenot suffered minor scratches on his back.

Guenot was traveling west on U.S. 54 in a Budget rental truck. He had the window down and his sunglasses on. Suddenly, the moth darted inside the cab and smacked him in the face. The forced knocked his shades off.

The impact of the moth hampered Guenot's vision, triggering the crash. Guenot swerved to the right and entered the ditch. The truck then cut across the highway and slammed violently onto its side. It ended up jackknifed in the middle of the road.

Konstantem landed on top of Guenot, however both escaped the cab quickly because they were afraid the truck might catch on fire, Guenot said.

He was traveling about 60 miles per hour prior to the accident.

Guenot said shortly after the accident that he couldn't identify exactly what flew in his face. It could've been a cicada or grasshopper, he thought. But when two semi truck wreckers turned the truck upright, they found fragments of a large moth under the cab, Bourbon County Undersheriff Ron Gray said. Officials cleared the scene about three hours later. Traffic wasn't backed up because the truck didn't completely block the roadway.

Brandon Stuermer and two passengers were following the rental truck. They saw the entire accident.

"At first I though they were hurt," Stuermer said. "It looked really bad. I'm glad they're OK."

Guenot, a native New Yorker, was moving from Georgia to Colorado. The rental truck was full and was towing a Chevrolet Cavalier, which sustained heavy damage in the crash. Included in the truck was a new $3,000 computer. It's not known whether the computer was crushed.

Stuerman said they'll probably have to get another truck and transfer the cargo.