Grandview man charged with involuntary manslaughter in crash that killed 9-year-old

A Grandview man who already faces assault charges in a vehicular crash that injured several people and killed a 9-year-old boy now faces involuntary manslaughter.

Kaveon C. Cottonham, 19, was charged Monday with crashing his car Wednesday into another car, causing the death of Aaron Cordell Shanklin-James.

Aaron was a passenger along with his grandfather, father and pregnant mother when their car was struck at the intersection of 51st Street and Woodland Avenue. Aaron was in the back seat and sustained life-threatening injuries. He died Friday morning, according to authorities.

Cottonham allegedly was fleeing from a Kansas City police officer at the time of the crash. A witness reportedly said that Cottonham noticed the patrol car following him and then moving to his side with its emergency lights and siren activated, and he appeared to panic.

Cottonham thought the patrol officer was attempting to pull him over, but the officer was on his way to a service call, according to court records.

The witness asked Cottonham to pull over, but he allegedly sped up to about 75 to 85 mph to get away from the officer. Cottonham reportedly sped past the police officer and crashed into another car.

Cottonham allegedly jumped out of the wrecked car and was arrested as he tried to run away.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged Cottonham with assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

This story was originally published July 17, 2017 at 3:45 PM with the headline "Grandview man charged with involuntary manslaughter in crash that killed 9-year-old."