KC men who led police on chase that ended in fatal crash charged with carjacking
Three Kansas City men who led police in a stolen car chase that ended in a crash killing a passing driver Monday now face federal charges.
Derell M. Wade, 19, Curtis R. Daniels, 18, and Michael A. Brown, 18, were charged Wednesday with one count each of carjacking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri.
Wade was also charged with brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Kansas City police were called to a carjacking about 10:30 p.m. Monday in the 8700 block of Countryshire Lane, according to charging documents.
The victim told police he had just parked his 2007 Prius outside an apartment when three men approached and demanded he give them his keys.
One man, now believed to be Wade, held a semi-automatic handgun to the victim’s head, court records show. After handing over his keys, a second man took the victim’s phone and the third repeatedly struck him in the back with an object, sending him to his knees.
The three men drove off in the Prius, records show. The victim called police, then used an app on his wife’s phone called “Find My Phone,” to help officers locate the stolen vehicle.
At about 11:10 p.m., two Kansas City police officers were dispatched to the area of East 20th Street and Poplar Avenue, where the stolen phone was most recently shown on the App.
The officers came across the Prius heading south on Lister Avenue near the intersection of East 23rd Street. The police car pulled behind the stolen car, which was stopped at Lister and 24th Street. The driver of the stolen vehicle then “accelerated at a high rate of speed away from the officers,” according to the charging documents.
The officers turned on their emergency lights and sirens and began chasing after the vehicle, records show.
The suspect began driving 65 mph on Lister Avenue, which is a residential road. He then ran a stop sign, turned west on 27th Street and almost crashed into oncoming traffic, according to charging documents.
Then the suspects turned north onto Lawn Avenue, driving at 75 mph before running a second stop sign at 24th and Lawn where they crashed into an uninvolved vehicle, killing its driver.
The male driver of the passing vehicle, later identified as Ricky Donaldson, 52, of Kansas City, was declared dead at the scene, police said at the time. A passenger was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
All three suspects were arrested at the scene and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Wade tried running from the scene, but fell. He then threw a gun into the grass before he was arrested, court records show. Brown also ran from the scene. Police found him hiding by a barbecue grill in a nearby back yard and took him into custody. Daniels exited the car in front of police and was taken into custody without incident.
Police confirmed a phone found at the scene belonged to the victim.
Brown later told police the three men were stranded at the apartment with no way home when they decided to steal the car from someone who had just pulled in, court records show.
A detention hearing for the men has not yet been scheduled. All three are currently in federal custody.
The FBI assisted with the investigation. The charges were announced as part of Operation LeGend, the federal crime-fighting initiative named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was fatally shot in June.
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
