Man driving ’100% throttle’ after marijuana use gets prison time in Derby woman’s death
A Sedgwick County judge on Friday sentenced a 60-year-old Haysville man to 34 months in prison plus six months in jail in connection with the traffic death of a Derby woman on Oct. 18, 2021, a spokeswoman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said.
Leroy E. Vandegrift, of Haysville, pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to amended charges of involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence and leaving the scene of an accident in the death of 26-year-old Anastasia “Ana” Natalia Rooney.
Prosecutors originally charged him in June 2022 with second-degree reckless murder, involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol and failing to stop at an accident, court records show.
Rooney died from blunt force injuries after her Buick Encore was hit head on by Vandegrift’s Chevrolet Silverado around 2:30 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of 63rd Street South, near Broadway north of Haysville. Authorities have said Vandegrift drove after using marijuana. He slammed into Rooney’s car after he lost control of his truck while fleeing from an earlier crash where he twice rear-ended a Volkswagen Beetle.
Data from Vandegrift’s truck recorded him speeding along at “100% throttle” and 97 mph at five seconds before the fatal collision with Rooney, according to a probable cause affidavit previously released by the court. The truck was traveling at 78 mph a second before impact, the affidavit says.
The speed limit on the stretch of road where the crash happened is 45 mph.
Rooney died at the scene. An obituary posted online described her as a friend to everyone who “brought laughter and smiles to those around her and was only truly happy if she could spread that happiness.” A native of Uzbekistan, she was adopted and moved to the U.S. in 2008, graduated from Derby High School in 2014 and went on to earn a certification as a nursing assistant.
She “loved to cook large meals of Uzbek cuisine and spend time with friends,” her family, her fiance and her cat, her obituary says.
A sample of Vandegrift’s blood taken in the aftermath of the deadly crash tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance in marijuana, at a level an expert testified would leave most people too impaired to drive, court records show.
In a motion filed before Friday’s sentencing hearing, Vandegrift’s lawyers asked the judge to put him on probation for three years instead of incarcerating him because he had little to no criminal history before the crash, had stopped using marijuana, was enrolled in drug treatment and needed to work to support his disabled wife.
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