Kansas, Missouri rank among highest for fatal police chases

Kansas and Missouri are among the states with the highest rate of fatal police pursuits in the nation, a new analysis has found.

The Las Vegas-based firm H&P Law looked at crash data from the National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration.

In Kansas, 1.79% of fatal crashes recorded between 2017 and 2021 involved a police chase.

That put Kansas third for the highest rate behind Georgia and Virginia. Missouri ranked sixth with 1.6% of traffic fatalities linked to police pursuits, behind Minnesota and New Mexico.

Florida and Hawaii had the lowest rates of fatal police pursuits in the country.

In a nine-month investigation published earlier this year, The Star found that on average, more than three police chases take place every day in the Kansas City metro. In an analysis of data from 2022, more than 150 crashes resulted in 51 injuries. The City of Independence engaged in chases at a disproportionate rate and accounted for 33% of those injuries.

Across the Kansas City area, police chases routinely exceeded 100 mph, with some chases reaching 130 mph, a review of police reports showed. Officers

often pursued drivers for trivial violations like license plate infractions and in dangerous conditions, including poor visibility.

Experts including the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit think tank based in Washington, D.C., recommend allowing police chases when a violent crime has been committed and there is an imminent threat to safety.

About 56% of the police agencies in the Kansas City metro place narrow restrictions on when a chase is warranted.

At least four people have died in police chases in the area this year. A suspect and an innocent bystander died in a January crash on Interstate 435 near Missouri 210 highway.

The next month, a driver died after a crash at Linwood and Van Brunt boulevards.

Last month, a driver fleeing from the Missouri State Highway Patrol died near East 33rd Street and Indiana Ave.