SMITHVILLE, Mo. — A high-speed chase in the Northland ended with two people killed and another injured Monday night.
One man who witnessed it said he still can’t quite believe what he saw.
“My heart was just going nuts, almost couldn’t breathe,” Nicholas Obsorn said. “I can’t imagine what the family must be thinking, how they must feel now, what it must be like to be that car, in that situation. I just can’t imagine.”
Osborn heard the sirens start to blare as he locked up his business for the night near 169 Highway and Amory Road. That’s when he saw Clay County sheriff’s deputies chasing a white SUV.
He said the driver hit a spike strip and lost control. Osborn watched in horror as that SUV rolled four or five times.
“In the middle of those rolls is when passengers and occupants (were) being hurled up into the air,” he said. “Coolers, trash, you know, who knows what, you know — along with the occupants.”
The deputies’ reports says the crash killed two passengers: 36-year-old Jeffrey Baldwin and 59-year-old Wilma McClasky. Another woman was behind the wheel. She survived but has serious injuries.
None of the victims were wearing seat belts.
All three of the victims had criminal records but investigators haven’t said if that has anything to do with why officers were chasing them. The Missouri State Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash.
A day later, Osborn said he still can’t get the scene out of his mind.
“It’s ‘This isn’t real,’ you know? It looks like something you just see on TV. Never see it in person,” he said. “It was really surreal. Made you think about how quick it can just be over.”
