Man killed, woman injured after Bonner Springs police pursuit of high speed driver
One man was killed and a woman was injured in a crash just before 1 a.m. Wednesday after a police pursuit in Bonner Springs, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.
Bonner Springs officers responded to a report of a vehicle “driving recklessly at high rates of speed” in a neighborhood near Scheidt Lane and Woodend Avenue around midnight, according to the Bonner Springs Police Department. Officers could not find the vehicle, a 2009 Pontiac G8, at the time.
An hour later, police responded to the area again for a vehicle spinning around and squealing its tires in the intersection. Officers saw the vehicle speeding away and it continued east onto Loring Lane at 114 mph in a 45 mph zone, police said.
An officer turned on his lights to protect a motorist who was driving behind the officer. The driver of that car stopped behind the officer.
Then, Bonner Springs police tried to catch up to the vehicle but lost sight of it.
The driver lost control near Loring Lane and Stillwell Road, according to the highway patrol, and the vehicle spun, struck a speed limit sign, went backwards and hit a tree.
The driver, 22-year-old Juan Carlos Marquez, was pronounced dead at a hospital Wednesday morning, according to the crash report. Police said he was a Bonner Springs resident.
An 18-year-old woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition, police said.
Neither were wearing seatbelts.
The highway patrol is investigating.
