KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two men in their 20s are dead after two separate car crashes in the northland Thursday morning.
Sgt. Bill Mahoney says around 3:20 a.m., reports came in that a silver Nissan Altima was heading southbound in the northbound lanes of I-29. Five minutes later, the wrong-way driver clipped a gray Toyota Camry before crashing head-on into a black Nissan Sentra near I-29 and 64th Street. The driver of the black Nissan Sentra, a female, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but is listed in stable condition. The wrong-way driver, who police identified as a 21-year-old Kansas City, Kan., man Allen S. Ramos, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We’re going to work as quickly as we can to restore traffic lanes,” Sgt. Mahoney said. “But with the deceased party at the scene, it’s going to take a little while before we can get the medical examiner up here, and we can complete our investigation.”
The accident took crews three hours to clear and during that time I-29 was closed from 56th Street to 64th Street. As of 6:30 a.m., I-29 had reopened and traffic was moving fluidly along the highway.
A total of five vehicles were involved in the two crashes associated with this fatal wrong-way accident. Three cars were involved in the deadly crash. Then another driver slowing down to look at the crash was rear-ended.
No other injuries have been reported.
Sgt. Mahoney with the accident investigative unit says it could be a case of an impaired driver, but it’s too soon to tell.
The second fatal accident happened near 169-Highway and the Briarcliff exit around 5:15 a.m. Officers from Riverside, Mo., and Kansas City, Mo., were both on the scene.
Investigators tell FOX 4 that a man was driving southbound along 169-Highway when he struck and killed a 24-year-old NE Kansas City man who was walking in the middle of highway while also wearing dark clothes.
Police identified this man as 25-year-old James P. Judy.
The driver, who is very shaken up by the accident, told investigators that he did not see the pedestrian.
The pedestrian was launched into the median and pronounced dead at the scene.
It is unclear why the pedestrian was walking in the middle of the highway especially in an area so far from his registered address.
As of 7 a.m., the accident was cleared and southbound 169-Highway at the Briarcliff exit had reopened.
