14-year-old girl from Independence identified as victim of fatal crash on I-70
Kansas City police have identified a 14-year-old girl as the victim of a deadly crash that happened over the weekend on Interstate 70.
Hailey Jeffries was one of four people riding in a Hyundai car that left the interstate and overturned just after midnight Aug. 25. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hailey, who lived in Independence, had just started her freshman year at Truman High School, according to her obituary.
A GoFundMe page created to help the teen’s family cover funeral expenses has raised more than $7,400.
“Hailey was an amazing young woman, daughter, and sister. She loved cheerleading and being with her friends and family,” a statement posted to the GoFundMe page said. “Please help support Hailey’s family (Marlayna, Jimmy, & Tyler) in their time of heartache. Funds will be used to assist the family in paying for funeral expenses. All donations will go to the family.”
According to the Kansas City Police Department, which is investigating the crash, the car was traveling west through a construction zone on I-70 near Stadium Drive “at a high rate of speed” when it lost control and went off the roadway.
Police said the car flipped over multiple times.
One of the passengers, later identified as Hailey, was thrown from the vehicle.
The driver and two other occupants were taken to a hospital. One of the occupants, a 14-year-old boy, had injuries that were described as life-threatening, police said in an update Wednesday.
This story was originally published August 28, 2019 at 9:42 PM.
