‘Horrifying accident’: Couple seriously wounded in crash with car fleeing KCK police

A Kansas City, Kansas, couple was on their way to lunch Sunday when an SUV fleeing from police slammed into the side of their pickup truck.

The victims, Mia Billings, 22, and Henry Kolenda, 23, were hospitalized with serious injuries.

A GoFundMe online fundraising campaign was created Tuesday to help them cover hospital bills and other expenses.

Billings, who is in a back brace, and Kolenda, a heavy equipment operator, expect it will take at least six weeks before they can return to work.

Kansas City, Kansas, police chased two burglary suspects early Sunday afternoon following a string of car break-ins at Legends Outlets, authorities said. Speeds reached 100 mph, but it’s unclear how fast the suspects were driving at the time of the crash. Both suspects were also hospitalized.

The collision is under investigation by the Kansas Highway Patrol.

GoFundMe details injuries

Billings said she had persuaded her boyfriend of six months to drive to LongHorn Steakhouse.

Kolenda was looking left to turn when they were struck by the fleeing SUV. He broke the driver’s side window with his face, Billings said, leaving him with a concussion and broken nose.

Her glasses flew off and her inhaler was flung across the truck.

The shock of the impact caused her to start hyperventilating “so hard I was about to pass out,” Billings said.

They were taken to a local hospital by ambulance where EKGs, CT scans and other tests were conducted. Billings had three cracked vertebrae, cracked ribs and a lacerated spleen, she said. Henry also had broken vertebrae and deep bruising.

“The whole thing was a little traumatizing,” Billings said.

“We’re just obviously very grateful that we’re not any worse off than we are.”

They were released from the hospital Tuesday and are dealing with the physical pain as well as the mental repercussions. Billings said she lives near the intersection where they were hit, making it a constant reminder. She said she’s scared to even be in a car.

She’s glad her two-year-old son wasn’t in the vehicle when they were hit, but won’t be able to pick him up for several weeks due to her injuries.

“We are forever grateful that they are still with us after such a horrifying accident!” the fundraiser made by loved ones read. “It could have been so much worse, and now the road to recovery for both Henry and Mia will be long and hard. Please keep them in your prayers for a fast recovery!!”

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the online fundraiser had collected about $2,000 in donations.

Crash under investigation

At about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, police received multiple calls about two people reported to have broken into between 15 and 20 vehicles near Legends Outlets, according to a news release from the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

Using the descriptions from the 911 callers, police identified a vehicle and two suspects who they believed to be involved in the burglaries. They located the suspects just before 2 p.m. in the area of North 98th Street and Parallel Parkway, according to the release.

Officers tried to pull over the driver, who instead fled, authorities said. Police chased the driver, following the vehicle into a residential area about 4.5 miles from where the pursuit began.

The Kansas Highway Patrol has not responded to a request for comment, but according to a crash report filed by the agency, the suspect vehicle struck Kolenda and Billings as Kolenda was driving northbound on South 81st Street and turning left onto Kansas Avenue.

Kolenda was driving a Chevy Silverado truck with Billings as a passenger at the time of the crash, according to the report. Both were wearing seat belts.

The police SUV was headed east on Kansas Avenue after the suspect vehicle. In the moments after the crash, one of the suspects got out of their SUV, at which point they were hit by the police vehicle while on foot, according to the KHP crash report.

The vehicle the suspects were in flipped in the impact of the crash, police said. Both suspects were hospitalized and taken into custody, police said at the time.

Anyone with information on the burglaries is asked to call Crime Stopper’s anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

Criticism over police chases

While the full details surrounding Sunday’s chase and crash have not yet been made public, experts on numerous occasions have warned police against chasing suspects in cases where there can be an unnecessary public risk.

As recently as July, family of a 38-year-old woman who was killed two years ago in a crash stemming from a Kansas City police pursuit decided to sue, saying the officer violated the department’s policies for chasing suspects and the pursuit was an unnecessary public safety risk.

‘When does it stop?’: Police car chases over petty crimes can kill, maim innocents

Experts have advised against some police chases, saying they can lead to avoidable tragedies.

In 2019, The Star reported that in the five years prior, at least six innocent bystanders were killed, and others were grievously injured.

Officers should be allowed to engage in a vehicle pursuit only if the fleeing suspect committed a violent crime, such as murder, rape, armed robbery or kidnapping, Geoffrey Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina who studies police pursuits, told The Star at the time.

In an update Tuesday, Kansas City, Kansas, police said they believed one of the break-in suspects may have been armed.