Clay County prosecutors charge KC man in hit-and-run that killed ‘gentle giant’

A 24-year-old Kansas City, North, man has been charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a pedestrian in December.

Clay County prosecutors allege that Drake Taylor left the scene of the Dec. 9 accident after his vehicle struck and killed Ryan Rossiter, 24, of Belton, who was walking along Missouri 1 in Gladstone.

Taylor is being held in the Clay County jail on a $30,000 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

Police were called about 3 a.m. to the scene of the wreck just north of Northeast 73rd Terrace and Missouri 1, near a Walmart. Arriving officers found Rossiter sprawled face-down in the center of the roadway. Emergency crews arrived and pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police said a vehicle headed southbound on Missouri 1 hit Rossiter and fled the scene.

According to court records, investigators tracked down the vehicle’s owner, who said that Taylor normally drove the vehicle but was not home. The man gave detectives Taylor’s cellphone number.

Detectives determined that the number pinged near a fire station in the area of 65th Street and North Prospect Avenue.

When detectives caught up with Taylor, they noticed he had a strong odor of “intoxicants.” Taylor also had a bruise on the outer bridge of his nose.

Taylor told police that he had been drinking with friends, left his car at the bar and was driven home by a friend.

However, police learned that Taylor called a friend after the accident. The woman helped Taylor wash the glass out of his hair. The pair allegedly devised a story to tell police about someone stealing Taylor’s SUV.

Rossiter’s relatives called him “a gentle giant” who lived with autism and dreamed of becoming a professional wrestling star. He had just finished working an overnight shift at a manufacturing plant near the airport when he was killed.