Second bystander dies from injuries in police pursuit crash that ended in Kansas City
A second person has died of injuries from a Kansas City crash that involved a suspect who was the subject of a police pursuit early Sunday morning.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday, Kansas City, Kansas police officers were in pursuit of an SUV suspected of being involved in an armed carjacking across the state line.
The chase ended at the intersection of Independence and Hardesty avenues in Kansas City’s Lykins neighborhood when the SUV blew a red light and struck an uninvolved vehicle, a Nissan Altima, that was headed north on Hardesty, police have said.
A passenger in the Nissan was pronounced dead at the crash site. The driver was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and died in the hospital Tuesday, police said. Neither had been publicly identified by police as of Tuesday afternoon.
The suspect in the carjacking was taken into police custody and then transported to the hospital with serious injuries, police have said.
In a statement Tuesday, Kansas City, Kansas Police Chief Karl Oakman offered sympathies on behalf of the entire police department to family of the two people killed in the crash.
“The suspect in this case committed a violent felony and in the process of eluding arrest crashed into two innocent people,” Oakman said. “It is never acceptable when the reckless actions of the suspect results in serious injury or death of others.”
Oakman said KCKPD was conducting an internal investigation of the pursuit to ensure its officers followed department policy and procedure.
The crash is being investigated by Kansas City, Missouri police. KCPD says its officers were not involved in the pursuit.
This story was originally published January 10, 2023 at 3:51 PM.
