Affidavit: Man charged with woman’s death drove ’100% throttle’ before head-on crash
A Haysville man charged with killing a 26-year-old Derby woman in a deadly traffic crash last fall had rear-ended a Volkswagen Beetle twice before speeding off and slamming into the Derby woman’s Buick Encore head-on, according to a probable cause affidavit released Tuesday by a Sedgwick County judge. The man was driving more than twice the posted speed limit in the seconds leading up to the collision, the affidavit says.
The document doesn’t say exactly what caused 58-year-old Leroy E. Vandegrift to become involved in the initial crash, or the reason he fled from it.
One of three criminal charges prosecutors filed against Vandegrift earlier this month also accuse him of driving under the influence when he allegedly killed Anastasia Rooney on Oct. 18, 2021.
Vandegrift’s defense attorney did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The affidavit says a sample of Vandegrift’s blood taken in the aftermath of the deadly collision tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol — the psychoactive substance in marijuana — and fentanyl, even though he apparently had no prescription for it, the affidavit says a law enforcement officer investigating the case was told by the Kansas Board of Pharmacy. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid used pharmaceutically for pain management that is also sometimes abused by those seeking a high.
The blood sample from Vandegrift was drawn after he had been given at least one unspecified medication for pain management to treat serious injuries he suffered in the wreck, the affidavit says.
Data from Vandegrift’s Chevrolet Silverado truck recorded him speeding along at “100% throttle” and 97 mph at five seconds before he slammed head-on into the Buick Encore that Rooney was driving, the affidavit says.
A second before impact, the truck was traveling at 78 mph, the affidavit says.
The fatal crash was reported around 2:30 p.m. in the 600 block of East 63rd Street South, near Broadway and north of Haysville, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office has said. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 45 mph.
Rooney died at the scene.
Authorities have said Vandegrift struck a 2005 Volkswagen Beetle in the westbound lanes in the 2000 block of East 63rd Street South around 2:20 p.m. the day of the fatal crash, then rear-ended it again after its driver stopped to try to exchange personal and insurance information with him. Vandegrift then sped away, continuing west, until he lost control moments later, crossed the center line and hit Rooney head-on while as she was driving east.
Rooney died from multiple blunt force injuries including rib and skull fractures, brain and lung damage and a lacerated liver and spleen, the affidavit says the coroner determined.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office has charged Vandegrift with second-degree reckless murder, involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and failing to stop at an accident. His next court date is July 25. He is free on bond while awaiting the hearing, court records show.
