Independence police chase ends with car crashing into tree

An attempted traffic stop ended in a crash Wednesday night after Independence police officers ran the fleeing driver off the road and into a tree.

Independence police officers attempted to pull a car over around 11 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Truman and Noland roads, according to Officer Kelley Rupert, an Independence Police Department spokesman.

When the driver did not stop, officers initiated a car chase. As the driver attempted to flee police, the other occupant of the car fired several shots at the police car, hitting its headlights, Rupert said.

The chase ended when the car swerved off the road, hitting a tree, Rupert said. The chase continued briefly on foot before Independence police officers took two men into custody.

No injuries were reported.

Independence police officers initiate car chases more frequently than any other police department in the Kansas City metropolitan area, a nine-month Star investigation found this year. At least nine people have died as a result of police chases involving Independence police officers in the last five years, including at least six bystanders.

Most recently, a Nov. 1 police chase in Independence turned fatal when a fleeing driver collided head-on with a police vehicle. The driver was pronounced dead shortly after the crash, while the officer in the police vehicle was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Across the metro, more than 320 people have been injured in police chases in the last five years, the investigation found.