‘It’s inexcusable’: Former council member pushes for limits on Independence police chases
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- Former council member urges policy limits and review to curb risky high-speed pursuits
- Ten random pursuits in 2025 included speeds up to 130 mph in residential areas
- LLRMI audit found Independence officers pursued minor violations at 100+ mph
For former Independence City Council member Jason White, the push to rein in high-speed police pursuits became urgent after one chase ended with a man dead on New Year’s Eve and another pursuit months earlier that crashed in his front yard.
“We’re sound asleep one night, and police cars wake us up, and lo and behold, there’s a car in my yard that they’ve been chasing and the police are arresting two people in my yard,” said White, who served on the city council from 2002 to 2006.
Independence police officers pursue drivers far more often than comparable departments, and frequently for minor traffic violations, a practice that a recent risk assessment found and is now prompting a policy review.
Days after the fatal New Year’s Eve crash, White spoke at a city council meeting, calling for a change, which he later found out was coming.
A risk assessment by the Legal and Liability Risk Management Institute found that several police chases by the department involved speeds exceeding triple digits in residential areas for minor traffic violations.
The group examined 10 random chases over 11 days in 2025, revealing police pursuits that began over minor traffic violations yet reached speeds as high as 130 mph in residential areas. Two ended in crashes.
Those 10 chases include the following violations and speeds reached:
- License plate light inoperable: Speed 112 mph.
- Improper Turn: Speed undetermined.
- Temporary Registration Tag Violation: 117 mph.
- Stolen Car (16-year-old operator): 97 mph.
- Speeding Violation: Officer drove 88 mph in a 35-mph zone with no lights or siren activated.
- No Registration: (16-year-old driver): 120 mph.
- Taillight out: 90 mph in a 30-mph zone.
- Equipment violation: 96 mph.
- No Registration Tag: 125 mph.
- Squealing tires: 130 mph.
Interim Police Chief Douglas Brinkley has since created an implementation plan for the findings that is broken into four timed phases, ranging from 90 days to 18 months for implementation.
“We have to do the work,” Brinkley said in a release. “This is a thoughtful process based on the recommendations from LLRMI, nationwide best practices, and my own previous experience. Some of these changes are as simple as a policy update. But much of this is complicated. Changes to long-held systems do not happen in a matter of days.”
The Independence City Council is expected to review changes to their police pursuit policy during a study session on March 9. Those proposed changes have not been shared publicly.
Independence Police officials did not respond to requests for comment or for requests to speak with Chief Brinkley.
White said that he believes the structure is in place to make an effective change to these policies.
“I think we have a moment where not only is the problem very evident, and we should feel terrible for not resolving it earlier, because there’s somebody who arguably should still be alive, because that chase over the weekend began on traffic violations,” White said. “The issue is we’re doing way too many compared to all the other law enforcement agencies in the metropolitan area.”
A lingering problem
The risk assessment, found that the department’s vehicle pursuits mirror reporting by The Star in a 2024 series of stories.
Independence had 330 police pursuits in 2022 alone. Kansas City, which is four times larger in population, conducted 98 during that same year, according to The Star’s reporting.
“Several of the pursuits we reviewed were initiated as the result of ‘minor’ traffic violations yet continued for several minutes, with some ultimately reaching maximum speeds over 100 mph,” according to the risk assessment. “Some of the speeds reached in these residential areas appeared, at least according to the video, to not be in the best interest of public safety.”
White said the assessment report is an eye-opener, and doesn’t meet common sense when you look at the speeds reached by police for the offense they initiated a stop for. White said that the counterpoint most police officers give him for these pursuits is that if someone runs, they probably have other offenses.
White said when he looks at the audit, that argument doesn’t hold up.
New Year’s Eve fatal crash
According to police, officers began pursuing a gray Ford F-250 for multiple traffic violations around 8:15 p.m. on New Year’s Eve in Independence.
The fleeing driver sped into Kansas City and along west on 9th Street. The pursuit continued toward Benton Boulevard when the driver failed to stop for a red traffic signal. The speeding motorist struck a blue pick-up and collided with a car driven by Sanchez, police said.
The driver continued fleeing before crashing into a parked recreational vehicle and fleeing on foot. No arrests have been made.
Sanchez, 47, was taken to a hospital, where he died the following morning. Two passengers in the vehicle with Sanchez were also taken to the hospital with critical injuries, police said.
After the pursuit, officers determined the truck was stolen, though it remains unclear what initial traffic violations prompted the chase.
For White, he said the ongoing high-speed pursuits in the city are indefensible and he believes more people are beginning to take notice.
“The City of Independence is going to pay out through the nose, and they damn well should to a family who lost a gentleman and two people are in the hospital,” White said. “Why don’t we take that money and put it into other technologies to deal with these things? And ending somebody’s life so prematurely is just … It’s inexcusable.”
