Man sentenced to prison for hit-and-run crash that killed 49-year-old in west Wichita
A 32-year-old man has been ordered to serve 8 years, 10 months in prison for crimes including a hit-and-run crash in west Wichita that left a pedestrian dead in May 2022, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said.
Latrell Thompson of Wichita pleaded guilty on Nov. 16 to one count of leaving the scene of an accident in connection with the death of 49-year-old Kurt Krueger, DA’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said by email. Thompson also pleaded guilty to one count of cultivation of marijuana, Dillon said.
On Wednesday, District Judge Bruce Brown “followed the plea agreement and sentenced Thompson to 46 months on the charge of leaving the scene and 60 months on cultivation of marijuana,” Dillon wrote.
“The Judge ran the sentences consecutive, and ordered restitution of $52,000 to the insurance company and $9,825.88 for the remainder of the cost of the funeral of Kurt Krueger.”
Krueger’s family has described him as a handyman who loved photography and sculpting. He was also his late parents’ longtime caregiver, relatives previously told The Eagle.
“Since our loss, our family has had two goals: heighten awareness of safe driving and to achieve justice and accountability for Kurt,” his family said in a statement posted on Facebook Thursday morning. “We are relieved with the outcome of the court’s decision to render the maximum sentence against the individual who left Kurt to die in the street.
“It has been a hard-fought struggle to find the person who struck and killed Kurt, and thankfully, justice and accountability has been achieved for our brother. This tragedy has changed our lives forever and we miss our brother immensely.”
Authorities have said Thompson hit Krueger with a vehicle around 2 a.m. on May 1, 2022, while Krueger was walking home in the 7900 block of west Cottontail, near Central and Ridge. Thompson then left without checking on Krueger, calling 911 or waiting for police, authorities alleged.
Thompson’s girlfriend, who was with him at the time of the collision, told police the crash was an accident and claimed they didn’t see Krueger “due to how dark it was,” a probable cause affidavit says. She told police “they freaked out and left” after hearing “a bang” and realizing they had hit a person, according to the document.
Another witness told police Thompson called him after the accident and said he fled because “he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in jail,” the affidavit says.
Thompson later had his vehicle towed to a scrap yard “to be crushed” to get rid of it, the affidavit says witnesses told police. Police arrested him after receiving a tip from a neighbor who stopped seeing the vehicle after the crash, the affidavit says.
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This story was originally published January 10, 2024 at 5:12 PM.
