Platte County high speed chase with sheriff’s deputy ends in car fire, injury
A high speed chase in the Northland ended in flames Saturday when a Kansas City man crashed on a highway off-ramp while allegedly attempting to evade deputies.
Just before 1 a.m. Saturday, a Platte County sheriff’s deputy attempted to pull over Christopher Fry, 23, while Fry drove south on Interstate 29 near 152 Highway. Fry did not stop as directed, but swerved around other lanes of traffic and fled south in his 2017 Dodge Challenger, court documents said.
The deputy started following Fry’s car near Northwest Tiffany Springs Road, according to charging documents and Captain Jeffrey Shanks, a spokesperson for the Platte County Sheriff’s Department. He pursued Fry by car for about two miles, according to court documents, but stopped when he lost sight of the Challenger around Barry Road.
According to court documents, Fry fled deputies at well over 100 miles per hour, reaching a top speed of 134 miles per hour. Charging documents did not specify how fast the sheriff’s deputy drove during the brief chase.
Moments after the chase ended, another deputy was flagged down by a passerby who had discovered the wrecked Challenger on fire at the bottom of the southbound off-ramp from I-29 onto 72nd St, Shanks said.
“The vehicle was fully engulfed when our officers arrived there,” Shanks said Monday.
Deputies believe Fry crashed his car while speeding down the off-ramp, according to court documents.
Fry was arrested at the scene of the crash and taken to a local hospital, then to the Platte County jail once medically cleared to leave. One passenger was found near the Challenger and hospitalized with injuries that Shanks described as “serious, possibly critical.”
Saturday’s crash was one of 197 traffic crashes reported by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department this year, according to state data.
A Star investigation published in March found that more than 320 people have been injured in police chases in the metro area in the last 5 years. The investigation also found that police chases across the Kansas City area routinely reach more than 100 miles per hour.
When it comes to sheriff’s deputies engaging in car chases, the policy in Platte County is much less strict than in nearby Jackson County. The Platte County sheriff’s office has two deputies tasked full-time with traffic enforcement.
In 2022, the most recent available year of full data, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office recorded 93 chases. The same year, 2 chases by sheriff’s deputies were recorded in Jackson County, while sheriff’s offices in Cass and Clay counties recorded 54 and 108 chases, respectively.
The Platte County prosecutor’s office charged Fry with causing a risk of serious injury or death by resisting arrest, a felony. He was also charged with careless operation of a motor vehicle, according to court documents. He pleaded not guilty to both charges Monday.
Fry is being held on an $8,500 bond, according to court records. He will next appear in court Aug. 20 at 9 a.m. for a bond hearing.
