JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

The world is moving fast, and a lot of interesting stories are playing out internationally, nationally and locally.

It is fitting to pause, however, and take note of three tragedies in our area the last nine days that have taken the lives of two women and a toddler.

Let’s take them as they happened…

Kathleen Kennaley Tripp

The 65-year-old Ms. Tripp was crossing Troost about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, when she was hit by a Fed Ex truck. She was critically injured and died two days later.

I don’t know where Ms. Tripp lived or where she was going that evening.

Here’s the dry language of the report the KCPD sent me:

Investigation determined that a delivery truck had been westbound on 55th, entered the intersection under a green traffic signal, and initiated a left turn to continue southbound on Troost. A pedestrian was crossing Troost and was struck when the truck turned. The driver stopped immediately and remained at the scene throughout the investigation. The pedestrian, identified as a 65 year old Kansas City woman, was most recently listed as critical at an area hospital.

Of course, if the truck had a green light, that meant Ms. Tripp also had a green light. I don’t know if she had a “walk” or “don’t walk” sign — or if the signal was even equipped with that. Doesn’t really make a lot of difference; she was in the intersection, walking with a green light.

It also should be noted it was light at that time of day.

You seldom hear about delivery vehicles striking pedestrians, and I believe the main reason is the major carriers — Fed Ex and UPS — put an extremely high priority on driver safety. I’m sure this driver is beside himself or herself. Nevertheless, the driver will probably face traffic charges, perhaps careless driving and failure to yield.

Ms. Tripp is survived by two daughters and several nieces and grand nieces. Her obit, on the Muehlebach Funeral Home website, says this, among other things:

Kathy graduated from St. Therese High School in 1971. (I presume it’s St. Teresa’s Academy.) She then attended Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana. Kathy was a woman of many humanitarian hats. She worked as an orthopedic lab technician at St. Luke’s on the Plaza in her youth then continued her career as an awarded hostess and bartender. She worked as a paralegal in several law firms around Kansas City. Never one to sit idle in her later years Kathy continued to show her compassion for others as a peer counselor with Truman Medical Center helping the homeless and actively volunteering at the World War I Memorial.

Celena Duncan

Ms. Duncan, who, I believe, was a minister at the Metropolitan Community Church in Topeka, was killed in a three-car crash about 10 a.m. Tuesday in the eastbound lanes of Shawnee Mission Parkway, a block or so east of Antioch.

This was much more egregious than the Fed Ex incident because the driver of the vehicle that caused the chain-reaction crash — 57-year-old Vicky Walter of Shawnee — was driving under the influence and her license had been suspended.

Walter, who is being held in the Johnson County jail on $500,000 bond, is facing a felony charge of involuntary manslaughter, in addition to charges of DUI and driving while suspended. A Fox4 News report said that after appearing in court Thursday, “Walter burst into tears as she heard the orders and walked back to her jail cell.”

I certainly hope she was crying because of the life she had taken and the other damage she had wrought, and not because she was losing her freedom.

The other damage I referred to? Ms. Duncan’s husband Jack Boren, who was driving the car they were in, was hospitalized with “crushed knees, damaged arms, broken clavicle, spinal fractures and a badly injured face.”

I have not been able to find out a lot about Ms. Duncan (her obituary had not appeared by this morning) but I believe she also lived in Shawnee and was in her 70s.

…Ten o’clock on a Tuesday morning on Shawnee Mission Parkway. Holy shit.

Jayden Courtney

Three years old. Father holding the boy’s hand. 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 11th and Grand. Boy breaks free and runs into street. Spire Gas truck that is trying to make the light hits boy as he enters 11th between two parked vehicles.

This from Fox4…

From the window of the Jimmy John’s sandwich shop, John Garcellano saw Jayden and his dad walking down the street moments before the crash.

“He was right there. The father was on the sidewalk and had a hold of his kid, and he just — the kid just broke free and ran right in the middle of the street.”

Garcellano also saw the Spire Gas utility truck coming over a hill: “The truck actually was going pretty fast, pretty fast for downtown. He was trying to catch the light before it turned red.”

Garcellano told the station his “heart sank” when he say the little boy lying lifeless in the street.

**

I think I speak for all of us when I say all of our hearts sink for all three of the people who were killed and for the husband who has a long recovery in front of him — and no wife to go home to.