KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Tonganoxie man has been charged with two counts of manslaughter in the crash that killed a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer, a pedestrian and the officer's K-9 partner.
Jerron Allen Lightfoot, 18, faces two counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker's office announced Friday morning.
Involuntary manslaughter — a class C felony, defined by Missouri law as "recklessly" causing the death of a person — is punishable by three to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine per count.
According to court records, KCPD officers responded around 10:15 p.m. on Wednesday to East Truman Road and Benton Boulevard on a reported crash.
Lightfoot was standing next to a white Ford Fusion, one of the crashed vehicles, when officers arrived. He told officers he wasn't injured, "Yes, I'm okay, my brakes went out."
According to a KCPD probable cause statement, the other vehicle was a marked police car drive by Officer James Muhlbauer, who was unconscious in the driver's seat wearing a seat belt when they arrived.
His K-9 partner, Champ, was in the back seat of the car and already had died.
Muhlbauer was transported to an area hospital and later died.
Police also found a second person, described as a man in his 50s, dead under the police vehicle.
"My office spoke Thursday evening with the family of our officer victim," Baker said in a statement. "We have not yet been able to meet with the family of our pedestrian victim prior to this filing, but we will meet soon with that victim's family. We extend our condolences to both grieving families and the police department. We are grateful for the pace of the police department's investigative work that allowed us to file these charges so quickly."
The charges are for the deaths of Muhlbauer and the pedestrian. The prosecutor's office said a person has to "knowingly" injure or kill a K-9 officer to be criminally charged under Missouri law.
Muhlbauer is the KCPD officer who arrested quintuple murderer Brandon Howell on Sept. 2, 2014, ending an hours-long manhunt after he killed five people in a south KCMO neighborhood.
He was a 20-year veteran with KCPD and spent the previous three years with the K-9 unit.
According to a review of video during the investigation, Muhlbauer was eastbound on Truman Road and had a green light at the intersection.
Court records show the white Ford was southbound on Benton Boulevard at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at the light.
Investigators checked the white Ford's electronic system, which showed the vehicle's brakes were working just prior to the crash and that the vehicle was traveling 85 mph or more just before impact.
A witness at the scene said she saw a white Ford fail to stop at a red light and strike a police vehicle. She said the impact sent the white Ford airborne as a result.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video from two separate businesses near the crash scene as part of the investigation.
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KSHB Digital In-Depth Reporter Tod Palmer contributed to this report.
