Prosecutors file criminal charges against driver who injured woman, 3-year-old girl
Prosecutors have charged a 32-year-old man for leading Kansas City police on a high-speed chase and causing a car crash that seriously injured a woman and a 3-year-old girl.
Miguel Ayala of Kansas City faces resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated for the wreck that happened Wednesday evening. At one point during the pursuit, police said speeds reached 100 mph.
Officers were called about 6 p.m. to the 5100 block of Hedges Avenue to investigate a disturbance involving a man who was “reported to be armed and possibly intentionally striking vehicles in the area,” according to police.
Callers told police that Ayala had argued with a woman with whom he had a relationship. Ayala, who had become intoxicated and aggressive, started making verbal threats to the woman and her brother. Ayala then got into his vehicle and struck several vehicles.
Police located Ayala in the area of 53rd Street and Hardy. They tried to initiate a traffic stop, but Ayala sped away, police said.
Officers pursued the vehicle, believing the driver was “involved in an aggravated assault with a weapon and posed a serious danger to the public,” police said.
Ayala’s vehicle, a Chevrolet Tahoe, struck a BMW car during the police chase. The SUV slammed into the back of the car, which was waiting at a stop light in the northbound lane at Raytown Road at 47th Street.
The Tahoe knocked down two poles and spun around, before it stopped in the northbound lanes.
The car was pushed through the intersection and ended up partially on the other side of the street. A 39-year-old Raytown woman who was driving the car was taken to a hospital in critical condition. The 3-year-old girl, who was in a child seat, was in serious but stable condition.
Ayala admitted to investigators that he had been drinking and a test of his blood showed a blood alcohol content of .347, prosecutors said.
On Thursday, investigators interviewed Ayala at Truman Medical Center, where he was being treated. He initially declined to talk, but he later told police, “I was so drunk, I don’t remember and I don’t I would just be lying to you about what happened and why it happened, I don’t know.”
Prosecutors requested a $100,000 bond. No court date has been set.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 10:21 AM.
