A Kansas City man’s car was stolen. Then he was hit by a car while walking to the store
From the start, May 8 was especially difficult for the usually optimistic Terrance “Terry” Rice.
The 59-year-old learned his stolen car had been found, but was totaled, leaving him without wheels. But even more tragically, the day marked the birthday of his late sister Theresa Anne Rice, who was murdered in 1986.
Her daughter, Tressa Bailey, 43, said her uncle is often the life of the party, and the one to look at the glass half full.
But that day, the stolen car and the sad anniversary put a damper on things.
It’s why Rice was walking down the road on May 8 in south Kansas City when he was struck and critically injured by a driver who police said was speeding down the road.
The driver went on to cause two more crashes in Grandview and Belton before she was arrested, authorities said.
At 11:23 a.m. on May 8, Rice was walking on the south side of Bannister Road, near the soutbound ramp to US 71 Highway when the driver of a Chrysler “driving at a very high rate of speed” struck Rice and threw him into the windshield before he hit the pavement, according to an initial police report.
The pedestrian, who was initially identified in a GoFundMe online fundraiser, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
Bailey said her uncle remained in the ICU as of Monday afternoon, still unable to speak a week after the crash. She said it’s too early to know how recovery might go.
Help for hospital bills
Rice is the outgoing youngest of four children. Bailey calls him the “fun uncle,” who nieces and nephews scramble to be around.
He’s also very athletic, walking or riding his bicycle when he gets the chance.
“Just a fun-loving person all around,” Bailey said.
Ivy Graham, who said Rice is a resident at her apartment complex, created the GoFundMe. She said on the day of the crash, Rice gave his fiance, Barbara Lange, his keys, then headed out to walk to the store, said Graham, who said the couple stops in her office often to visit.
An hour later, after Lange wasn’t able to reach Rice, “we got nervous,” Graham wrote in the GoFundMe. Soon after, she got a call from the hospital saying that Rice was in the intensive care unit.
Graham said she created the GoFundMe to help cover Rice’s medical bills, and to help Lange continue to pay for groceries and food while Rice is unable to work. Graham also hopes to help buy the couple a new car.
As of Monday afternoon, the fundraiser had about $1,500 in donations.
Bailey said Lange has been by Rice’s side since the crash.
“They laugh together and they enjoy each other,” she said of Rice and Lange, who have been together for about 12 years.
Bailey asked that the community keep her uncle in their thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery.
“We just want loving energy sent out by the community,” Bailey said. “You know, it would be great if anyone who may have saw the incident could come forward.”
3 crashes in 10 minutes
After hitting Rice, the driver of the car, a black Chrysler 200, sped from the scene, headed southbound on the highway, Kansas City police said at the time. The driver was not being chased by police at the time of the Kansas City crash, said Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman with the KCPD.
As Kansas City police investigated the crash, the Grandview Police Department reported that at 11:29 a.m., the same vehicle sped through Grandview near the 13500 block of southbound Interstate 49 and past another driver who swerved and crashed into a barrier, Sgt. Gabriel Gilbert, with the Grandview police department, said.
Then, at 11:33 a.m., someone called Belton police about a crash on southbound I-49 just south of East 155th Street, said Lt. Dan Davis, with the Belton Police Department.
The driver of the Chrysler tried to pass another vehicle on the left shoulder of the road while speeding. The Chrysler’s driver then hit the median and flipped on its side, Kansas City police said.
A female driver, whose name and age wasn’t provided, then got out of the car and tried running from the scene before she was detained by Belton police and taken into custody by Kansas City police, authorities said.
The driver was not hospitalized, but had some minor cuts, Davis said. The other driver was not injured.
“The driver has since been released pending further investigation at the request of the prosecutor awaiting results of toxicology,” Becchina said Monday morning. “Once that is received and the case file is forwarded to the prosecutor they will make a determination on applicable charges.”
