KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Police identified the semi-tractor trailer driver who was struck and killed Friday along Interstate 29 south of Barry Road as Jorrard M. Davis, 38, of Kansas City, Kansas.
Davis had pulled over on the right shoulder of Interstate 29 near the Barry Road entrance ramp and exited the cab of his truck to secure a back door on the trailer, which had come open and threatened to spill the vehicle’s contents onto the road.
Police said Saturday that he walking in the right lane of southbound I-29, according to a release.
KCPD detectives observed the open door and stopped to assist the driver, who got out and started walking toward the rear of the truck along the right lane.
Detectives instructed him to get back into his cab and observed traffic in the right lane attempting to move into the middle lane, where another KCPD department vehicle was “slowing down to other traffic,” according to a release from the police.
That’s when a second semi-tractor trailer in the middle lane slammed into the KCPD department vehicle, pushing it into the right lane where it struck and killed Davis.
“The officers told him, ‘Get back in, we’ll close it up for you,’” KCPD Maj. Greg Dull said Friday in a press briefing at the scene. “Before he could get back … that’s when (the police) vehicle was struck from behind.”
The car wound up wedged under the trailer for the semi driven by Davis, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
“It’s just a sad deal,” Dull said.
The two KCPD department members and a detective were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries.
The three-car wreck shut down I-29 south from Tiffany Spring Parkway to 72nd Street for several hours.
