KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A 48-year-old truck driver was arrested and charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed an 8-year-old girl in Joplin.
According to a probable cause report, Lance Lee, of DeKalb, Illinois, was driving a 2017 Freightliner tractor-trailer Wednesday morning on Newman Road at Sunny Crest Lane. The girl was running from her home along Sunny Crest Drive and ran into the path of the tractor-trailer, the Missouri Highway Patrol said in the report.
The girl, identified as Destiny Chambers, was struck by the tractor-trailer, the Highway Patrol said. The vehicle did not go off the roadway or strike any other object at the scene.
Lee allegedly did not stop and left the scene of the crash. Destiny was transported to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Lee and the tractor-trailer were later located in Strafford. Sections of a broken bumper matched the damage to the vehicle, and clothing fibers, blood and skin also were found on the vehicle, according to the report.
Lee allegedly told authorities that he struck a deer on Interstate 44, then admitted to being at the crash scene on Newman Road. Lee said that he saw a stopped school bus and thought he hit a mailbox as he passed, the report said.
Lee was booked into Jasper County Jail on one count of leaving the scene of an accident-accident resulting in death.
