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Kansas City is mourning the loss of a police officer after he was fatally struck by a driver fleeing law enforcement while attempting to deploy stop sticks.
The Kansas City Police Department in Kansas identified the slain officer as 26-year-old Hunter Simoncic. The young officer graduated from the department’s academy in 2023.
Simoncic was struck early Tuesday morning while deploying stop sticks on State Avenue in an effort to stop a driver who was fleeing law enforcement, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Dennis Mitchell III, 31, is accused of hitting Simoncic and is charged with capital murder, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of theft, according to Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree on Wednesday.
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The incident began at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday when Kansas City officers responded to reports of shots fired on Everett Avenue, according to the department.
Officers arrived at the location at 12:40 a.m. to find an unconscious man, later identified as Mitchell, in the driver’s seat of a truck. He woke up when they approached him and fled the scene, sparking a pursuit.
Mitchell abandoned the truck he was driving for another truck and continued fleeing, KBI said.
While police continued pursuing Mitchell, Simoncic and another KCKPD officer exited their vehicle to stage stop sticks. When Mitchell got close to that location, he allegedly drove toward Simoncic, hit him with the second truck and drove off.
Simoncic was taken to the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
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After allegedly hitting the officer, Mitchell wrecked at around 12:55 a.m. on Kaw Drive. He was taken into custody and transported to the same hospital as Simoncic for treatment. He was released not long after and taken to the Wyandotte County Jail.
Police said they later learned both trucks Mitchell drove Tuesday night had been reported stolen.
The department said in a Facebook post that Simoncic’s death brings a “profound sense of loss and pain.”
Before joining KCKPD, Simoncic worked as a shift supervisor at the Southeast Kansas Regional Juvenile Detention Center, according to the department. He also held a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in forensic science.
He was also a volunteer at Benjamin Banneker Elementary School and read to children on a weekly basis through a program known as Lead to Read KC.
“While he grew up in a small town in southeast Kansas, he chose to serve our community because, in his words, ‘I want to take what I have learned in life to make positive changes in a community I believe truly deserves it.’ Let that sink in,” the department wrote.
Simoncic’s death comes just weeks after Elijah Ming, a deputy in Kansas City, was shot and killed in the line of duty.
“God speed Hunter. You and Elijah rest easy, we will take it from here,” KCKPD wrote on Facebook.
His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 3.
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