A woman was struck and killed by a driver in a hit-and-run crash on Saturday, August 18.
The crash happened around 10:25 p.m. near the intersection of 38th Street and Prospect Avenue. Authorities say the victim was walking across Prospect when she was struck by a passing vehicle. That vehicle left the scene without stopping and when police arrived, they announced the victim dead at the scene.
The woman who was killed was later identified as 33-year-old Andrea Mitchell of Kansas City, Missouri.
“We want to extend our condolences to the family of Andrea,” said BikeWalkKC executive director Eric Rogers. “We also want to ask anyone who may have seen the car in question to come forward and help bring this killer to justice.”
“While it is important that we find the perpetrator of this heinous crime, we also need to realize that this is a failure of the built environment,” noted BikeWalkKC policy director Eric Bunch. “We must look for ways to protect pedestrians as much as we try to bring reckless drivers to justice when they hurt or kill them.”
This crash marks the 13th reported pedestrian death in 2018 and the third in August alone for the Kansas City metro.
As BikeWalkKC has stated in the past, what deserves the brunt of the blame for these crashes is the culture that values car traffic efficiency over the safety of human lives.
For more information, contact Karen Campbell, director of development and communications, at (816) 205-7056 (ext. 2) or by email at karen.campbell@bikewalkkc.org.
Authorities say they are looking for a white PT Cruiser with front end damage. A witness to the event said that there were two men and two women in the vehicle at the time of the crash. If you have any information, please call the TIPS hotline at (816) 474-8477.
BikeWalkKC believes that crashes are not accidents and clothing is not an excuse.