NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police have identified the child killed in a one-car accident Wednesday morning as nine-year-old Ke-Aire Good. Another child injured in the accident was not identified but police said the child is five years old.
Police are trying to determine what caused the crash that happened shortly before 7 a.m. near Burlington and 13th Avenue in North Kansas City, Mo.
Northbound Burlington remained closed to traffic hours after the accident as investigators continued to analyze the scene where a small SUV veered out of its lane and hit two parked vehicles.
Police said the father, identified as Kenyel Good, was driving north on Burlington when his SUV wandered out of the driving lane and hit a large truck and a car parked along the curb. Police said Good said he turned his attention briefly to the children in the back seat, which caused him to veer off the roadway
The child who died was sitting in the rear passenger side of the SUV, which bore the brunt of the crash.
“It is a child, that is correct,” said Maj. Kevin Freeman of the North Kansas City police. “We don’t have an age that we are releasing right now because there’s been some misinformation still.”
Police said Ke-Aire Good was wearing a seat belt, which officers say age appropriate. Rescue crews rushed the younger child, who was strapped in a car seat, to the hospital to be treated for injuries.
A man walking north on the sidewalk at the time of the crash says he tried to console the driver.
“He was just pretty shaken up,” said Joshua Young, witness. “He was a black male. He was shook up. People were trying to calm him down as best as they could. You know he was on the curbside. It was horrible, it was really horrible.”
Police say at this time there doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious about the accident.