Police arrested a 24-year-old Wichita woman after surveillance on a stolen car led to a chase that ended with a fatal crash.
The Police Department’s public information officer, Kris Gupilan, said in a press release that officers found a stolen vehicle at the Riverwalk Apartments late Monday morning. Officers in an unmarked vehicle watched the car and asked for air support from the Kansas Highway Patrol. Around noon, the stolen vehicle stopped at a Walmart at 29th and Rock Road, and officers used spike strips to stop the vehicle from leaving, deflating two tires. The woman who was driving the vehicle sped away and struck a police vehicle, then it stopped at a business on North Webb Road, where the woman and a man got out and tried to run away.
The man was caught, but the woman stole a van from the business, going south on Webb Road and then west on 29th. The van collided with a car at 29th and Wilderness, killing the other driver, identified as 43-year-old Mandy Buckwalter of Wichita. The suspect was injured and taken to a hospital for treatment, and then she will be booked into jail. Information will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office for a decision on charges to be filed.
The name of the woman who was killed has not been released. The Kansas Highway Patrol has been asked to help with the investigation of the crash. Police Chief Joe Sullivan has asked the department’s Professional Standards Bureau to look into the incident.
Anyone with information on incident who has not talked with investigators has been asked to contact the AFU detective at 316-350-3686 or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.
