Driver in runway accident has record of unsafe driving

A 37-year-old Ponca City man, injured in a one-vehicle accident at the Blackwell/Tonkawa airport Wednesday night, has a record of several incidents of unsafe driving.

James Kice was, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, racing a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro at the airport about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday down the runway southbound.

The patrol reported that Kice failed to stop at the end of the runway and hit a berm, causing the car to flip end-over-end an unknown number of times. The car came to rest on its wheels about 700 feet south of the runway.

Kice was admitted to Wesley Hospital in Wichita in stable condition with trunk injuries.

According to court records, Kice pleaded guilty to two felony counts of manslaughter and three felony counts of furnishing alcoholic beverages to minors in Kay County District Court in May 2003.  He was charged in September 2001 in those cases. He was sentenced to 12 years on both manslaughter with the balance suspended after he served seven years. He was sentenced to serve three years concurrently on the alcohol charges, consecutively after the manslaughter sentences.

In May 2004, the sentence for the alcohol charges was modified  to time served. The sentence on the manslaughter charges was modified to 10  years, with five years suspended.

In October 2001, Kice was ordered to pay $100,000 in a civil negligence suit settlement involving a minor. The court approved the release of $12,500 at that time for medical expenses and $33,736 in legal fees. The balance was to be released to the minor when  she reached the age of 18.

Kice was ticketed for minor in possession of a non-intoxicating beverage and public intoxication in July of 1997, when he was 18. In January 1998, he entered a no contest plea to a charge of transporting an open container of liquor.

In April 1998, Kice was given a citation in Grant County for operating a motor vehicle in a manner not responsible or prudent. In September 1998, he was ticketed in Ponca City for reckless driving

Kice was convicted in April 2002 of abandoning a vehicle on the highway and of affixing an improper tag to a motor vehicle.

According to Trooper Tyler Langston’s report on Wednesday’s incident, seat belts were equipped and in use and the airbags were deployed.  The trooper’s report indicated the cause of the collision was alcohol and the driver’s condition included an odor of alcohol.

The trooper was assisted by Kay County Sheriff Office, Tonkawa Fire Department, Blackwell Police Department, Tonkawa Police Department, and Blackwell Fire Department.