Rockhurst senior remembered; search continues for SUV that fled double-fatal crash
Police continued to search Sunday for an SUV that left the scene of a double-fatal crash Saturday afternoon in Overland Park.
The wreck killed a Rockhurst High School student and a 20-year-old Kansas City, Kan, man.
The vehicle police are seeking — a dark blue or dark gray Honda minivan — may have struck the side of a car eastbound on 151st Street near Stearns Street that then veered across the center line, causing a head-on crash that killed both drivers.
Rockhurst High School identified one of the victims as student Matthew Bloskey. And family identified the other victim as Samuel Siebuhr.
The Rockhurst community gathered Sunday afternoon in the school’s Rose Theatre for a memorial service.
Rockhurst High School President David Laughlin said in a statement Saturday that the school’s community is “devastated” by the death of Bloskey, who was a senior.
“As a community of faith, we join now in support of his parents and siblings, family, friends and classmates trusting in Matthew’s eternal reward with Christ,” Laughlin said. “In the days ahead we will care for our students and Matthew’s family with all the strength of our great community at Rockhurst. We appreciate the prayerful support of others at this time.”
Siebuhr’s family shared their grief, with his sister, Keawna Siebuhr issuing a public plea on Facebook for help finding the driver of the SUV.
Police released surveillance images of a suspect vehicle in an effort to identify the driver of the SUV that left the scene.
According to a police news release issued Saturday night, two vehicles were traveling eastbound on 151st Street at 3:23 p.m. when one of the vehicles struck the driver side rear panel of a vehicle driven by the 20-year-old man.
The man’s vehicle spun out of control, went over the median, brushed against a westbound vehicle and then struck another westbound vehicle head on — whose driver has been identified as Bloskey.
Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators were still sorting out what led to the crash, Overland Park Police spokesman Officer John Lacy said Saturday.
“We don’t know if they were racing or if there was some type of road rage incident that occurred while they were traveling eastbound, but we’re trying to sort that out at this time,” Lacy said.
Police think speed was a factor in the deadly crash.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the Overland Park Traffic Safety Unit at 913-912-2164 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
As officers were responding to the fatal wreck, authorities said an Overland Park police officer was involved in a separate crash.
Johnson County Deputy Claire Canaan, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said a driver in an SUV hit the side of the police vehicle at 151st Street and Switzer Road. The driver was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. The officer was not injured.
This story was originally published October 7, 2018 at 4:44 PM.