The state of Kansas has been ordered to pay $120,000 to the family of a car crash victim who died nearly a decade ago after a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper demanded she be sent to Missouri hospitals rather than a closer Kansas hospital.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon in May of 2007, KHP master trooper Michael Gruber observed a speeding car, flipped on his lights and attempted a routine traffic stop. Instead, the driver, Charles Barker, sped away, instigating a high-speed chase on Interstate 635 and K-32 highway in Wyandotte County.