65-year-old Kansas City truck driver charged in death of Missouri fire official
A 65-year-old Kansas City truck driver was arrested in Clay County Friday after being indicted in the crash that killed Boone County assistant fire chief Bryant Gladney.
A Boone County, Missouri, grand jury indicted Kevin Lee Brunson earlier this month on one charge of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, according to court records.
The Missouri Highway Patrol arrested Brunson on Friday in Clay County. He was booked into Boone County jail, where he was being held on a $250,00-0 bond.
Gladney was killed while working a crash involving a truck on its side early in the morning on Dec. 22 along westbound Interstate 70 east of Columbia.
While Gladney and others worked the wreck, a westbound tractor-trailer struck Gladney’s vehicle at a high speed and then hit an ambulance and the truck in the original crash. Gladney was extricated from his vehicle and taken to a hospital where he died shortly after arriving, according to the Boon County Fire Protection District.
No other emergency workers were injured.
A crash report by the Missouri Highway Patrol stated that Brunson had exceeded the maximum driving time allowed by federal regulations at the time of the crash, according to KMIZ-TV in Columbia.
