I’m sure that, like me, most people who read or heard about Tiffany Mogenson’s tragic death on Oct. 11, 2013 have, at one point or another, put themselves in her place when reflecting on the circumstances of her death.
She was alone in her car, sitting in the driver’s seat, stopped eastbound on 75th Street at Roe Avenue (I think), when a car going 90 miles an hour hurtled up (that’s redundant, but accurate) and crashed into the back of her car.
Tiffany suffered head and pelvic injuries and died almost instantly.
I have put myself in her position because I realize full well it could have been me. Of course, it could have been you — any one of you.
Kansas City Star photo
I put myself in Tiffany’s position and wonder what my reaction would have been? I (or you) probably would have heard the roar of an engine, or at least some unusually loud sound, and glanced up at the rearview mirror. Death approaching. Nowhere to go, no time to take evasive action.
Maybe I would scream. Maybe I would curse. Maybe I would pray. I guess I would instinctively duck as much as I could and hope the unguided missile coming at me would catapult over my car after initial impact…and that, miraculously, I would live.
But almost any scenario you could imagine that involved survival probably wouldn’t happen. Miracles seldom attend events like that.
I hope Tiffany, a 30-year-old dance studio owner and former Chiefs cheerleader, didn’t see or hear anything until impact. But I’m afraid she did.
It’s the capriciousness of it and the fact that things like that aren’t supposed to happen at 75th and Roe that boggle the mind.
Who hasn’t sat at that light? Facing any direction at one time or another? I probably go through that intersection — usually east or westbound — two to five times a month.
…I feel so sorry for Tiffany’s husband Mike, for her sister Stacy Chaloux, for her 8-year-old niece and for all her relatives and friends. She was ripped from them and robbed of her future by a guy who had been drinking for 24 hours, supposedly because he was depressed over a pending divorce.
The man, 33-year-old Roy Lee Maney, was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years and eight months in prison for reckless second-degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident.
How about that for irony? Maney lived…Not only lived but was able to run from the scene before being caught.
Just before the crash, a Prairie Village police officer had been pursuing Maney for speeding. (He had at least two other prior traffic violations, including one for speeding, as well as a conviction for not having insurance or a driver’s license.)
In Maney’s maniacal path was Tiffany Mogenson, idling at the intersection, perhaps listening to the car radio. She was there, alert and alive one second, dead several seconds later.
It was an unimaginably rotten and tragic convergence of events. And it could have been me. It could have been you. But for just plain luck.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
This is yet another of Steve Howe’s gutless decisions. Fleeing from an officer is a felony and it’s murder when anyone is killed while committing a felony. Howe argued that because the cop stopped trying to chase the guy he was no longer fleeing, a ridiculous argument given the facts of the collision.
The Star was critical of precinct committee people for electing Phill Kline over Howe when the Great Tattoo went to Topeka, but I was there. Howe looked like what he is, an incompetent, low level bureaucrat, compared to Kline and nothing has changed since.
John, you like to drop these head-scratching nuggets — the Great Tattoo — and leave them for me to explain!
OK, then, but make sure I’ve got this right…Kline’s predecessor as Johnson County District Attorney was Paul Morrison, who was having an in-office affair — and I mean in the office — with his director of administration, Linda Carter.
The Pitch ran a story about this in 2008, and here’s a snippet:
“In September 2007, Morrison told Carter that he wanted to prove his love for her. Morrison had a heart with Carter’s initials — L.C. — tattooed on his hip. Carter was supposed to get a matching tattoo. She never did.”
Thus, the Great Tattoo.
Morrison must be a fairly “good” lawyer if he can explain that tattoo to his wife and get away with it.
Morrison was yet another of Howe’s failings. After receiving an independent report indicating that Morrison had, I believe, interferred in a criminal investigation, amongst other things, Howe gave him a pass. Useless.
PS. Great job and excellent research.
Unless there are at least 2 cars sitting behind me at a light, I spend most of my time looking in my rearview mirror; I leave at least a car length’s of space between by car’s nose and whatever’s in front of me, even if it’s just the crosswalk; and I always, ALWAYS pick an out: someone’s yard, a driveway, a parking lot, whatever – don’t care if I ruin anything – in case I see some jackass/drunk/out of control vehicle coming up behind me and need to get as far off the road as I can.
This has saved me from being rear-ended or worse on at least 3 different occasions just in the last year.
I think about her every time I’m at that intersection. I remember the day it happened: I had driven by not too long before, and when I read about it online, I realized that it was within an hour of the accident. I feel terrible for her family, and I’m appalled at this short sentence.