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Driver charged in Kansas City crash that killed 28-year-old woman

FILE: Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) vehicle, Kansas City, Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A driver has been charged in a Kansas City crash that left a 28-year-old woman dead last week.

Jackson County prosecutors charged 27-year-old Tyler Taylor with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.

Karlaysha Lucas was killed in a crash March 10 at Linwood Boulevard and Jackson Avenue.

Karlaysha Lucas and family

Kansas City police said just before 9:30 p.m. last Friday, Lucas was making a left turn onto Jackson Avenue. Investigators said a Kia Sportage headed south on Jackson hit her Camaro.

Police previously told FOX4 the driver who hit Lucas’s vehicle was driving at an extremely high speed. 

Taylor’s Kia launched into the air up a grassy hill on Linwood Boulevard and overturned on top of a parked car, according to police.

Police said Lucas was thrown from her vehicle and died at the scene. 

Court documents say Taylor got out his vehicle and ran away. A witness followed Taylor, according to charging documents, and was able to return him to police at the scene of the crash.

Taylor told police he did not own the Kia and assumed it was stolen, court records say. He said he was speeding for no other reason than that he liked to drive fast.

The vehicle’s airbag control module showed 3.5 seconds before the crash, Taylor was driving over 96 mph, and at the time airbags deployed, he was driving 74.5 mph.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said the police department’s investigation is ongoing, and there could be additional charges filed in this case.