Police: KCK trucker killed in I-29 wreck involving cop cars was walking on highway
The man killed Friday in a Northland highway crash involving two semitractor-trailers and two Kansas City police vehicles was walking in a lane of travel, police said.
The victim was identified by police Saturday as Jorrard M. Davis, 38, of Kansas City, Kan.
Capt. Lionel Colón said in a statement that Davis was pulled over on southbound Interstate 29 at Barry Road by detectives around 5:15 p.m. Friday because the trailer door of his Goodwill truck had slid open. Items inside had nearly fallen out.
After stopping, Davis exited his cab and walked in the right lane of travel on I-29 toward the back, Colón said.
"The detectives yelled for him to get back in his truck," Colón added.
An unmarked police vehicle occupied by two civilian employees of the Kansas City Police Department was traveling in the middle lane and slowed to a near stop in an attempt to make the area more safe for the driver and detectives, said Maj. Greg Dull with Kansas City police's traffic division at the scene.
But a semitractor-trailer struck the back of the middle-lane police vehicle, pushing it into Davis, who was standing in the right lane, Colón said.
"Traffic on I-29 was slowing down in the (middle and right) lanes of travel as vehicles were moving from the (right) lane into the (middle) lane," Colón said.
The detectives' vehicle on the shoulder had its emergency lights on.
The unmarked police vehicle in the middle lane did not, Colón said.
"The other car was in heavy traffic and was just slowing down (not in an emergency capacity nor subject to) as the surrounding traffic flow dictated and was hit from behind," he wrote by email.
Their vehicle's front end was lodged under the trailer of the victim's rig. The two occupants suffered minor injuries.
A detective also suffered minor injuries.
The crash closed southbound I-29 in the area for several hours Friday night.
The second trucker drove for a farm operation.
Dull said the police traffic unit has begun an investigation to determine if the farm truck driver was impaired, either by substance or fatigue. They will also work to determine if his truck had any mechanical issues.
The speed limit decreases from 70 mph to 65 mph in the area. A recent report deemed the I-29 and Barry Road area as the most dangerous in the Kansas City Police Department's North Patrol Division. There were 263 crashes there in a one-year period that ended in March.
This story was originally published June 30, 2018 at 6:13 PM.