A pedestrian was critically injured after being struck by two separate drivers in KCMO on Thursday, April 30.
The crash occurred some time before 10 p.m. The pedestrian was initially struck by the first driver, who was heading westbound on Independence Avenue. The driver then pulled into a nearby lot, exited the vehicle to look at the front of the car, before getting back in and driving north on Oakley Avenue.
A short time later, a second driver who was also heading westbound on Independence Avenue ran over the pedestrian and dragged the person under the vehicle for a short distance.
Authorities arrived shortly after and transported the unidentified victim to a local hospital, where they were last listed in critical condition.
“Our immediate focus is on the victim of this crash,” said Eric Rogers, executive director of BikeWalkKC. “We hope that they will recover from their injuries, and we are asking the community to help us find the first driver and bring them to justice.”
“The callous nature of the first driver is incredibly telling,” noted BikeWalkKC policy manager Michael Kelley. “When drivers care more about the state of their car than the condition of the person they struck, that tells us something is incredibly wrong with how we prioritize our most vulnerable road users.”
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.
The first driver involved in the crash left the scene heading north on Oakley Avenue driving a silver Volkswagen Beetle. If you have any information about the crash, please call 911 or the TIPS hotline at (816) 474-8477.
BikeWalkKC believes that crashes are not accidents.