LEAVENWORTH, KS (KCTV) -
A teenager running from police is accused of slamming into a car carrying a family of six. Critical injuries were reported both in the family car along with the teenager himself.
The police chase started in Leavenworth County about 10:30 a.m. Saturday when officers began pursuing a 1999 Dodge van traveling west on Kiowa Street.
Leavenworth Police Chief Pat Kitchens said officers ended the chase, but the driver of the van, Jadon Orr, of Overland Park, continued to drive erratically and ran a stop sign, smashing into a minivan that was headed south on 10th Street.
Neighbor Roy Hilt saw the whole crash happen from his window.
"He didn't look good at all," Hilt said. "As I looked outside, I noticed the car moving, and it just kind of took my breath. Then it was the blink of an eye."
Orr was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from his vehicle, the Kansas Highway Patrol said. He was transported to Children's Mercy Hospital. His injures are unknown at this time.
"Immediately I heard kids screaming, people panicking. I ran outside to the van and opened the side door up, and we got the kids out," Hilt said.
Four young children, who troopers say are now doing fine, were taken out of the minivan that Orr hit. But their parents are both still hospitalized, the father most seriously injured.
Ralf Bruning, 34, and his passenger, Tafu M. Bruning, 35, both of Leavenworth, were transported to the Overland Park Regional Hospital. The two were listened in critical condition Sunday.
"They didn't look good at all. They were both unconscious," Hilt said.
State troopers say Orr initially took off when a Leavenworth police officer tried to pull him over, prompting a short chase until the officer decided it was too dangerous.
Authorities say the trooper followed from a distance, turning off all his lights and sirens and drove up on the scene a short time after the crash.
"That officer did not chase that car through the intersection," Hilt said.
Orr is listed as a runaway, taking off from home. His mother came to see the scene Sunday, offering prayers to the other family and asking for understanding for her son.
"I just ask that everybody prays for him. He is 16 years old," Orr's biological mother, Timmie Woolridge, said. "Hopefully he will pull through this, and he will learn from this."
The Kansas Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash.
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