Deadly morning on Kansas City roads as three people die in separate crashes Wednesday
Update: Police on Friday identified the driver of the gray Pontiac in the first crash as 33-year-old Kristian M. Shaw. He was not wearing a seat belt.
Police on Thursday identified the motorcyclist killed in the third crash as 59-year-old Mark Gish of Kansas City. They also identified the driver of the Jeep in the second crash as 21-year-old Daniel L. Carson.
It was a deadly morning for drivers on Kansas City roads after separate crashes killed three people, including a motorcyclist, a police spokesman said in an email.
The fatalities come at a time Kansas City is seeing significant increase in the number of deadly crashes. Including Wednesday’s deaths, there have been 86 people killed on city roads so far. In 2019, there were a total of 78 fatalities.
The primary contributing factors in the fatal crashes this year are drug and/or alcohol impairment, no seat belts and excessive speed.
The first crash occurred just before 2 a.m. Wednesday near 87th Street and Newton Avenue. A gray Pontiac was headed east on 87th at high speeds, said Capt. David Jackson of the Kansas City Police Department.
The Pontiac crossed the double yellow lines into the westbound lanes near Cambridge Avenue and collided head-on with a white Chevrolet Suburban, Jackson said.
The driver of the Pontiac was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced died. The driver of the Chevy was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, Jackson said.
At about 6:40 a.m., officers responded a single-vehicle crash on Indiana Avenue just north of 57th Street, he said.
A preliminary investigation found that a Jeep SUV was headed north on Indiana when the driver lost control. The Jeep left the road, struck and severed a wood utility pole and then crashed into a tree in the front yard of a house in the 5600 block of Indiana, Jackson said.
The male driver, who has not been identified, died from his injuries.
Just minutes after that crash, police responded to another fatal collision — this time at 55th Street and Blue Parkway, Jackson said.
Investigators determined that a Triumph motorcycle was westbound on Blue Parkway when it collided with a Chevrolet SUV, which had pulled out from a stop sign.
The motorcyclist, a 59-year-old Kansas City man, died a short time after arriving at a hospital. The female driver of the Chevy was not injured, Jackson said said.
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 12:22 PM.
