KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One year later, a metro mom is using billboards throughout Kansas City to try to prevent road rage from taking another person’s life like it did to her daughter.
On a bright, sunny afternoon Kay White and more than a dozen family members gathered near East 24th and Bales in Kansas City to remember a dark chapter: the day her daughter was killed.
“It has been challenging in so many ways. It still doesn’t seem real. Krealonna was a very happy, very outgoing person. She was my youngest of three,” White said.
According to court documents, one year ago on April 17, Krealonna Willis was traveling in a red Saturn and Trenton Stanley was in a black Mustang side by side on the Chouteau Traffic Bridge. Court documents further reveal Stanley traveled at least 70 miles an hour when he became “upset” about how Krealonna Willis was driving.
Investigators say when Stanley tried to pass Willis, he hit her car, causing her to lose control and roll over. Witnesses told police Krealonna’s car flipped at least seven times.
The 23-year-old graphic artist and singer died at the crash scene.
“Road rage is a choice,” White said. “It’s a choice to get angry. It’s a choice to participate. It’s a choice to pay a person back. I am very convinced that she would be alive had it not been for this.”
“He took away my favorite niece,” said Kam White, Krealonna’s aunt. “If you go to Chouteau, you will see the impact of her car on that wall. She was in her right lane, and he could have drove on and he chose not to.”
The metro mom is pushing for change.
“I’m hoping that there are stronger penalties and stronger charges that can be brought against people that kill people like this,” she said.
With the help of family, friends, other supporters and the Missouri Highway Patrol, Kay White has started a new foundation called “Families Against Road Rage.”
The mom’s mission also includes getting three billboards put up around Kansas City. The billboards bear a picture of White’s daughter and encourage drivers to “be patient, be aware and be kind.”
“People need to let angry drivers go pass them, go around you. Do whatever to show common courtesy. We got to practice these same tactics in a car. I do believe what I’m doing can make a difference,” Kay White said.
Trenton Stanley is scheduled to go to trail in July.
