Man charged in alleged DUI crash that killed Overland Park woman after weeks in hospital
A man who allegedly struck and killed an Overland Park woman while driving under the influence the night before Halloween has been charged in Johnson County.
Alexander G. Kohrs, 23, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence, according to Johnson County court records.
Just after 8 p.m. on Oct. 30, Kohrs was driving near West 95th Street and Moody Park Circle when he struck 62-year-old Karla Joy O’Malley’s vehicle, according to an Overland Park police report.
Megan Hillen, O’Malley’s daughter, said police told her Kohrs was allegedly driving more than double the speed limit and hit O’Malley’s vehicle from behind. The impact knocked her car off the road, crashed it into a power line and threw the engine from the vehicle.
O’Malley suffered significant brain damage and trauma affecting almost every organ in her body, Hillen said. Her mother spent weeks in the hospital with her condition fluctuating constantly.
After 40 days in the ICU and then hospice care, O’Malley died on Dec. 8.
Throughout her life, O’Malley loved spending time with family and playing with her two granddaughters. On the night she died, O’Malley was on her way home after eating dinner with Hillen and her daughters.
They laughed, played and watched Hillen’s one-year-old practice walking.
Hours later, Hillen learned about the crash through her brother and father.
“One dumb decision,” she said, “can cause so much hurt.”
Random acts of kindness
Hillen always knew her mother was a kind person who took care of her family and helped friends and strangers without asking for anything in return.
She saw O’Malley pay for people behind her at drive-thru’s or tape cash to the back of diaper packs with notes that read “Good luck with the new baby,” but Hillen didn’t realize the reach of O’Malley’s kindness until she documented her ICU journey on Facebook.
Messages poured in from old friends, colleagues and people Hillen had never known. One man said his home for widows and orphans in Uganda would be dedicating a new building to O’Malley because of her support over the years. A former colleague said O’Malley saved her life when she befriended her while she was going through a difficult breakup.
Other friends said O’Malley sent them packages filled with small gifts when they were going through a hard time, even if they hadn’t seen each other in 10 years. To others having a hard time, she offered copies of a book called “Jesus Calling: Enjoy Peace in His Presence,” because it helped her when she needed it.
“It wasn’t till I grew older that I realized a lot of things she did was not normal behavior, and I grew to appreciate her,” Hillen said.
“I think losing her just made us all more reflective of the kind of person she was and in awe of that,” she said. “It makes me sad that I was never really able to tell her that I saw it and I appreciated it and actually acknowledge all of the things she did.”
Kohrs’ first appearance in court is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
