A child died after a crash Wednesday night at 63rd and Leavenworth Road in Kansas City, Kan.
A traffic stop by Kansas City, Kan., police preceded the incident.
Police pulled over a car on 63rd Street, just north of Parallel Parkway, according to Kansas Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Howard Dickinson. The highway patrol handled the investigation but was not involved in the traffic stop or incident.
He said the driver who was stopped, Tyrone Murphy Jr., then took off in the vehicle headed north on 63rd, and the police then followed.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s crash log, a Chevy Impala was northbound on 63rd about 8:35 p.m. Wednesday when it failed to stop at a red traffic light at Leavenworth Road.
It struck a Dodge Caravan that was eastbound on Leavenworth Road, going through the intersection, killing a girl inside the van.
Jasmine Rodriguez, 7, of Kansas City, Kan., was taken to the hospital, where she later was pronounced dead, according to the trooper’s report.
Dickinson said it was a T-Bone crash, with the impact on the passenger side of the van where the children were sitting. They were properly restrained by safety restraints, he said.
It may have been difficult for the driver of the minivan to see anything coming because of the houses near the corner.
Also injured and taken to the hospital were Brian Rodriguez, 7, Kansas City, Kan.; Jesus G. Rodriguez, 9, Kansas City, Kan.; and the driver of the van, Jacqueline, 35, Kansas City, Kan.
Murphy, 27, of Kansas City, Kan., the driver of the Impala, also was injured, according to the report.
Dickinson said that in fatal crashes, a full drug and alcohol screening will be taken, and lab results will be available later.
Dickinson pointed out that it is the police officers’ job to make traffic stops, and officers did not start the chase. It was the decision of the person being stopped to run, he said.
According to the Wyandotte County Jail log, Murphy has been booked into the Wyandotte County Jail.
The jail log lists several charges, including involuntary manslaughter in the commission of another crime; aggravated battery, interference with law enforcement officer, fleeing or eluding a law enforcement officer with five or more moving violations, possession of drugs, and numerous other traffic citations such as reckless driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt.
