MERRIAM, Kan. (AP) — A 24-year-old man has been charged with causing a deadly crash in suburban Kansas City after police tried to stop him for speeding.
Uconn Coleman, of Grain Valley, Missouri, is jailed on $500,000 bond on charges that include first-degree murder, eluding police and driving under the influence.
Police in Merriam, Kansas, said the crash happened around 1:35 a.m. Thursday when an officer tried to pull over a speeding driver. Police said the officer didn't initiate a pursuit before the driver crashed seconds later into another vehicle that was stopped at an intersection, The Kansas City Star reports.
The driver of the stopped vehicle, 19-year-old Benjamin Klecza, was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. He later died, according to prosecutors.
Defense attorney Carl Cornwell said Coleman sobbed when he spoke to him for the first time Friday, distraught that someone had died.
“It was very emotional,” Cornwell said, adding that Coleman was “very remorseful.”
