Update: The Star reports that the granddaughter died today of her injuries. They were Sierra and Larry Guant of Lee’s Summit. Larry was a regular MS150 veteran and they were training for Sierra’s first MS150. Channel 9 just interviewed Larry Smedley of the Bicycle Shack, were they had stopped right before the crash. Details show that both cyclists were riding correctly in the right lane on this wide and flat four lane road.
Earlier…
Last night a grandfather was hit and killed while riding with his 14 year-old granddaughter on Raytown Road south of Truman Drive, on the west side of Longview Lake. The pair were hit from behind on a road that is part of the popular Longview Loop bike route around the lake. Some reports say the driver was taken into custody for questioning, but no charges have been filed as of this morning. The granddaughter was flown to a local hospital with critical injuries.
11 Responses to “Fatality in Grandview”
- 1 Pingback on Aug 7th, 2007 at 9:44 am
- 2 Trackback on Aug 17th, 2007 at 8:15 am
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You seriously have to think about how this tragedy can ever happen, this is a very open stretch of road, that is used very frequently by cyclists and there are Share The Road signs around Longview Lake including Raytown Road.
There will be a vigil for the cyclists on Saturday Morning, leaving from Brookside, from the parking lot behind Bella Napoli/Roasterie at 8AM heading out to the collision site.
Questioning? If you kill someone with a vehicle is that not vehicular manslaughter? Is it somehow OK to kill someone who’s riding a bicycle? If only OJ had known that!
This is ridiculous! When will the police start prosecuting drivers that KILL bikers?! I hate to be dramatic, but what the hell? It seems like if it was another driver that was killed, or a pedestrian, there would be a whole lot more done. The police in this part of the state (and perhaps people in general) don’t expect drivers to abide by the law when it comes to respecting bikers.
As much as I hate the law suit happy culture, perhaps the family could get a wrongful death judgment in civil court. I don’t know… I’m just pissed.
The Police don’t prosecute anyone – the Prosecutors Office does – or does not as the case may be.
The Police investigate the accident and present the case to the Jackson County Prosecutors office – that’s where you need to complain to.
The Police in this part of the State – at least in Missouri – are very cognizant of the rights and responsibilites of ALL drivers/riders.
Like I said – if you want to blame someone for something getting done or not getting done regarding the prosecution of someone then at least complain about/to the right people…..in this case the Prosecutors office
True, its the Prosecutors Office that does the prosecuting but in order to be prosecuted you must be charged with wrongdoing and thats what the police are responsible for doing since its their office that does the investigating of the accident. Here it is well over a week and still no charges, no mentioning of the drivers name. Thats why I think most people are putting the blame on the Police for keeping this so hush-hush.
It was only a matter of time before an accident like this happened. If the City/County is going to encourage people to ride along a busy road with a high speed limit, they need to either create a bike lane or maintain the shoulder in good enough condition that bikers can ride on it.
gimme a freakin break, mike
all the motorist has to do is look out the front window
if you can’t look out the front window
you should not be doing the high limit
no shoulder will ever be sufficiently free of debris
to make it preferable to the outside traffic lane
you put in a bike lane here, and
(a) you will not have room for two through lanes in each direction or
(b) you will have to lower the limit (maybe a good thing) and
(c) in any event, some motorist who cannot be bothered
to look out the front window
will still be picking off cyclists
what I want to know is
why has the name of the motorist not been made public yet