Deputy chasing wrong-way driver in downtown Wichita crashed into innocent motorist
Authorities say a Sedgwick County deputy and an innocent driver were hurt when their vehicles collided at a downtown Wichita intersection as deputies chased a fleeing vehicle headed the wrong direction down a one-way street early Monday with occupants thought to be involved in a drug deal.
Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office Colonel Brian White said during a Tuesday news conference that two deputies in separate patrol cars were pursuing a Chevrolet HHR north on Topeka where the road is open to southbound-only traffic.
The deputy closest behind the Chevy collided with an SUV at Douglas, injuring him and an unsuspecting 52-year-old Wichita woman navigating late-night downtown traffic.
Both were hospitalized with serious injuries, White said. The deputy, 32, has since been released. White didn’t have any updates about the woman Tuesday.
In many instances, authorities officially discontinue a car chase in the moments before a collision occurs, due to traffic conditions and risk to the public. But that wasn’t the case here.
White said Tuesday that the pursuit wasn’t “called off” until after the deputy’s car and the woman’s SUV wrecked.
The fleeing driver, meanwhile, got away and hasn’t yet been arrested, Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Benjamin Blick said.
The chase started shortly after midnight at a gas station on the other side of downtown, south of Kellogg. White said a deputy spotted some people there, engaging in what he thought was “suspicious activity” at the Seneca and McCormick convenience store and called another for backup.
Blick told The Eagle the suspicious activity that drew the deputy’s attention appeared to be a drug transaction.
As the second deputy arrived at the station, the people got into the Chevy HHR and took off, eastbound on McCormick, without its headlights turned on.
White said the deputies followed and tried to pull the Chevy over near the intersection of Lincoln and McLean, to no avail.
At one point during the chase, the fleeing driver turned the Chevy north onto Topeka, even though it’s a one-way street for southbound traffic in the area. The deputies followed, White said, until one crashed into the westbound SUV at Douglas and Topeka.
In all, the chase lasted around seven and a half minutes, White said. Speeds at times on the city streets reached 70 to 80 miles per hour, he said, but were also slower at times, around 40 mph.
It was not immediately clear Tuesday exactly how fast the deputy was driving when his patrol car slammed into the unsuspecting driver then into a building on the northwest corner of the intersection.
White said the second deputy involved in the chase called for help after the crash and rendered aid to the 52-year-old woman until emergency medical staff arrived.
The collision is under review internally, which will include a look at traffic conditions and the number of other drivers and pedestrians in the area as well as any potential policy violations, White said. The Kansas Highway Patrol is conducting the on-site investigation.
Asked whether the pursuit should have been called off sooner, White pointed to what he called a “difficult decision” between catching criminals and allowing a motorist disregarding traffic laws to put the public at risk with no warning.
“Every pursuit is going to be a little different,” he said, adding that it falls on the deputies involved in a chase and their supervisors to determine when it’s no longer safe to continue.
Last year, Sedgwick County deputies were involved in 117 car chases, or just shy of 10 pursuits per month on average, White said.
This year so far, there have been slightly more — about 10.25 pursuits per month on average.
“Statistically, it’s not an anomaly that would jump out at you,” White said.
This story was originally published September 7, 2021 at 4:45 PM.
