Wichita mom accused of attempted murder in 8-car crash told hospital she wrecked on purpose
A Wichita mother charged with attempted first-degree murder in an eight-vehicle crash where she was recorded speeding over 100 mph with her 5-year-old daughter in the car told hospital staff that she wrecked on purpose.
An affidavit released by a Sedgwick County judge this week says the mother, 27-year-old Paloma Adame, returned to the hospital after she’d been discharged and told workers there that the Oct. 23 collision in east Wichita near Andover “was not an accident and that she was attempting to kill herself.” Her public defender declined to comment on the case Wednesday.
Adame also told a medic and hospital staff that she’d recently used methamphetamine, the affidavit says. Witnesses reported her screaming at people trying to help her, acting agitated and making confusing statements like, “You’re not going to kill me this time” and “I can’t be killed,” while she was trapped in the car, the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, the airbag control unit in the red Kia Sportage recorded Adame traveling 116 mph, nearly full throttle with no braking, 2 seconds before she crashed into vehicles at a red light at U.S. 54 and 143rd Street East shortly before 4 p.m. on Oct. 23, a Sunday. At impact, she was going 92 mph, with no throttle and some braking, the affidavit says.
Witnesses described seeing the Kia flipping and twisting in the air then landing on a Florida family’s car — crushing the roof above a baby in the back seat — before skidding to a stop. Witnesses also reported seeing her speed, pass on the shoulder and whip about in traffic without regard for others, the affidavit says.
Adame’s father called 911 several minutes before the crash, hoping law enforcement would pull her over, after spotting her driving in the wrong lanes of traffic, driving in reverse and acting erratically on a different road, the affidavit says. He told authorities she might be driving under the influence and worried she was suicidal and might hurt someone, according to the affidavit.
In the days leading up the crash, her mother told law enforcement Adame “seemed paranoid,” had been “behaving strangely” and told her she “could not handle life anymore,” the affidavit says.
In all, the crash involved eight vehicles and at least seven people received injuries, ranging from bumps, bruises and cuts to lost consciousness and a traumatic brain injury, the affidavit says.
Adame’s 5-year-old daughter, whom a witness pulled from her mother’s car after finding her “stuck face-first” between the dashboard and the windshield, suffered a broken leg and bruising on her hip and head. She rode in the front passenger seat.
No one was killed.
The 13-page affidavit gives what law enforcement deemed probable cause for Adame’s arrest, announced Jan. 13 by a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office spokesman. It also gives insight into why prosecutors charged Adame with one count of attempted first-degree murder and five counts of aggravated battery in the high-speed collision.
She was charged Jan. 17 and is due back in court on Jan. 30 court, records show. She remained in the Sedgwick County Jail on Wednesday afternoon in lieu of $150,000 bond.
Erratic behavior after crash
The affidavit also describes Adame’s unusual behavior at the crash site, after she slammed into the other cars.
A medic assessing patients told authorities that after Adame was freed from the wreckage, she went over to a witness who had been comforting her daughter on the side of the road, pulled her child out of their arms and “began swinging (the girl) at the bystanders as if she was trying (to) fend them off,” the affidavit says.
The medic told authorities the 5-year-old girl screamed and cried and was “at risk of falling to the ground.”
The medic said Adame was “screaming incomprehensibly and appeared to be trying to run away from the scene, fighting with responders, and using (her 5-year-old daughter) as a weapon against them as she moved . . . away from the accident scene,” according to the affidavit.
When Sedgwick County Sheriff’s deputies caught and handcuffed her, she fought and tried to kick them, striking one in the leg, while being taken to a patrol car, the affidavit says.
On the ride to the hospital, Adame was quiet and refused to answer questions about her or her daughter’s health history. Her daughter, meanwhile, acted “very fearful” of Adame and later disclosed that Adame had hit her when they were in the car and “hurts her at home,” the affidavit says.
At the hospital, Adame told staff she’d used meth within the past 24 hours and yelled across the room to her daughter: “I am sorry that we are too good for this world baby girl.” Her urine and blood tested positive for methamphetamine and tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance in marijuana, the affidavit says.
This story was originally published January 25, 2023 at 4:13 PM.
