Kansas City couple has brush with death in Arizona police chase

A Kansas City physician and his wife in Arizona for a Royals preseason game narrowly escaped death when they found themselves in the path of a police chase.

Mesa officers were in pursuit of a man wanted for an injury hit-and-run when they rammed the rear of his pickup truck on Interstate 10 south of Phoenix, causing it to spin out. The truck crossed the median and rolled over into opposing traffic directly in front of John and Becky Hagan’s rented Kia.

“It rolled incredibly fast,” John Hagan recalled Thursday. “It hit the ground and put up an enormous dust storm. We couldn’t see the truck after that. I yanked the car to the right as quickly as I could.”

The Hagans emerged from the dust and realized they had barely missed the truck and also had not collided with any other vehicle on the crowded highway.

The truck came to rest on its side in the left lane, where the Hagans’ vehicle had been. The incident happened March 24.

The driver of the truck was ejected and faces multiple charges. Earlier in the police chase, video from media helicopters shows, the man tried to steal a motorcycle from a driver at an intersection. But the motorcyclist resisted and the man sped off in the truck as police approached. Two officers pulled their guns and at least one fired.

Hagan said the police maneuver of ramming the truck they were pursuing to make it spin out of control was unnecessarily dangerous to other motorists. He filed a citizen complaint with the Mesa Police Department.

“I have nothing but respect for the police and the difficult jobs they do,” Hagan told The Star on Thursday. “I just think someone either made a bad decision or, if that’s what the protocol is, it’s a bad protocol and it needs to be changed.”

Hagan said a Mesa officer called him Wednesday to acknowledge his complaint and said there would be a formal inquiry. The officer said Hagan would be informed of the result.

The Royals game that the Hagans planned to attend was on Saturday. But the stress of their close call coincided with a touch of food poisoning.

“We missed the game,” Hagan said.

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Kansas City couple has brush with death in Arizona police chase."