KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A memorial to fallen veterans was damaged this weekend.
Leaders at Veterans Community Project, which sits at 89th and Troost Avenue, said a reckless driver is to blame for damage to a memorial rock garden that sits alongside Troost Avenue. Neighbors complain this is indicative of traffic-related concerns in their neighborhood.
That rock display pays respects to fallen members of each brand of the U.S. military. The stone columns that honor members of the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force will need to be replaced. People living in that area, which is near Center High School, said some drivers don’t even stop for the red light at that intersection, and speeding is common there.
A video clip given to FOX4 shows the speeding car blow through the intersection, lose control and crash into the rock display. The driver didn’t stick around. He can be seen leaving in someone else’s car. Police officers told project managers that car was reported as stolen.
“For somebody just to come through here reckless and destroy that is frustrating — not only in the sense of it having to be fixed, but having something nice out here,” Brett Myers, Veterans Community Project operations manager, said.
Myers and other neighbors complain about dangerous drivers at 89th and Troost. Since 2015, two people have been killed in car crashes there. Veterans Community Project managers said a nearby park bench was ruined by a car crash, and another of their displays was hit by a car.
“It’s very dangerous over here,” Verna Holmes, a neighbor waiting at the bus stop across the street, said. “When they ride through here, they don’t slow down. Some of them slam on their brakes too hard.”
Aside from the high school, 49 veterans live in the nearby veterans tiny home village. Myers fears for what could be next if drivers don’ slow down. A Kansas City Police spokesperson said traffic officers concentrated on that neighborhood in February.
If you know who stole that car on Sunday and caused the crash, please call Kansas City Police.