Man accused of driving into, killing officer who was deploying stop sticks during pursuit

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV/Gray News) - Officials in Kansas City, Kansas, have confirmed the death of an officer who was allegedly hit “deliberately” by a car early Tuesday morning.

Police Officer Hunter Simoncic, 26, was critically injured shortly before 1 a.m. on Aug. 26. He was pronounced dead at the University of Kansas Medical Center later that morning, Kansas City, Kansas, police confirmed during a press conference.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case and said Simoncic was hit near 75th Street and State Avenue, just outside the Kansas City Kansas Community College.

He was reportedly trying to halt a suspect’s car with stop sticks, a tool commonly used by law enforcement in an effort to intervene with suspects who refuse to slow down for police.

Officers were initially called to the area at around 12:30 a.m. on a report of gunshots.

When officers arrived, they found a suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Dennis Mitchell III, unconscious inside a truck. Officers tried to approach him, which is when he reportedly took off and initiated the chase at 12:40 a.m.

Mitchell is said to have abandoned his first vehicle and taken another before driving eastbound on State Avenue, where Simoncic was deploying stop sticks.

Mitchell reportedly drove over the sticks, across a median and into Simoncic before continuing on.

At 12:55 a.m., Mitchell crashed the truck approximately two-and-a-half miles away, near 65th Street and Kaw Drive, according to officials.

Police said Mitchell was taken to a hospital. He has since been treated and released to the Wyandotte County Jail.

He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, vehicular homicide, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, theft, criminal possession of a firearm and aggravated failure to appear.

Formal charges are pending.

Chief Karl Oakman said in all his years of policing, he has yet to see a suspect seemingly so calculated in his efforts to harm an officer.

“It’s a dangerous job, and the men and women of this department go above and beyond every day knowing those dangers. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make any sense for someone to do something like that, to deliberately hit the officer, to go out of their way to strike that officer,” said Oakman.

In 1998, Kansas City, Kansas, Sergeant Richard Asten died after he was deliberately hit while deploying stop sticks. That scene was just four miles from where Simoncic was struck on Tuesday, near North 98th Street and France Family Drive.

The officer’s death also comes exactly one month after Wyandotte County Sheriff Elijah Ming was killed in the line of duty on July 26.

Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner said “senseless” and ”unnecessary” come to mind when describing the city’s second officer death in 30 days.

“A young man that came to work and, like everybody else, wanted to go home, and he was denied that,” the mayor said.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 4 has opened a fund for Simoncic’s family. Donations can be made at any Public Safety Credit Union location to the KCK FOP Memorial Fund c/o Simoncic Family.

The area around State Avenue and College Parkway was closed for several hours while local and state law enforcement agencies continued their investigation.

In a post to X, Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas offered prayers for Simoncic, saying “thankfully,” the suspect is in custody.