Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 24

Independence Police SUV Crash Kills 48-Year-Old Misty Leslie as Missouri Probe Examines Emergency Response

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Oct 24

Independence Police SUV Crash Kills 48-Year-Old Misty Leslie as Missouri Probe Examines Emergency Response

Q: How fast was the police SUV traveling when it struck Misty Leslie, and what was the unreleased emergency call?

It is not publicly known. Independence police have not released the speed of the 2024 Ford Explorer police SUV, and they also have not identified the emergency call the officer was responding to when the crash happened. What has been released is limited to the basic crash narrative: the officer was traveling west on U.S. 24 shortly after 1 a.m. with lights and siren activated, and preliminary evidence indicates the police vehicle had a green light while Misty Leslie’s Audi had a red light. Leslie was critically injured and later died; the officer was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Because the speed and the nature of the emergency call remain undisclosed, those details would likely have to come from the completed crash investigation, crash reconstruction findings, dispatch logs, CAD records, radio traffic, or any dashcam/body-camera evidence if it exists. As of the latest reporting, none of that information had been made public. So the direct answer is that both details the question asks about—the SUV’s speed and the exact emergency call—remain unreleased and unconfirmed.

Q: What crucial evidence might disappear if police dashcam footage of the fatal crash is not preserved before the 90-day deletion window?

The most crucial evidence that could disappear is the police vehicle’s dashcam video showing the seconds before, during and immediately after the crash. If that footage is not preserved before a typical 90-day deletion window, investigators and Leslie’s family could lose the clearest independent record of whether the officer’s emergency lights and siren were active and continuous, the patrol SUV’s speed, the traffic-signal phase as the officer entered the intersection, lane position, braking or evasive action, and the exact point and force of impact. It could also capture the officer’s driving behavior in the run-up to the collision and the surrounding traffic conditions at about 1 a.m. That matters because police have said only that early evidence suggests the officer had a green light and Leslie had a red light, while they have not released speeds, the nature of the emergency call, or whether any camera footage exists. Video could confirm or challenge those preliminary statements and fill gaps that witness memories or crash reports may not resolve. Other time-sensitive digital evidence could also vanish quickly, including body-camera footage, nearby fixed government-camera recordings, private business surveillance video, and vehicle event data. But the dashcam from the responding police SUV would likely be the single most direct piece of evidence about how the fatal intersection crash unfolded.

1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 24

Misty Leslie, 48, died after an Independence Police Department officer driving a 2024 Ford Explorer struck the passenger side of her 2022 Audi SQ5 at an intersection outside Kansas City shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 11.
Police said the officer was heading west on U.S. Highway 24 with lights and siren activated on an emergency call, and early evidence suggests he had a green light while Leslie entered on red.
The officer was hospitalized with non-serious injuries, while investigators have not disclosed either vehicle's speed, the nature of the emergency call, or whether video captured the crash.
The fatal collision is drawing added scrutiny because Independence tightened pursuit rules earlier this year after years of criticism over aggressive driving, though police said this crash did not occur during a pursuit.
Independence logged 541 pursuits in 2025, far above Kansas City's 137, after a 2024 regional review found the department accounted for about one-third of pursuit-related injuries.

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Fox News2h ago

Misty Leslie Killed by Independence Police SUV in Kansas City Area Crash

How fast was the police SUV traveling when it struck Misty Leslie, and what was the unreleased emergency call?

Could recently scrutinized police driving practices reveal a different story than the official green-light narrative in this fatal collision?

What crucial evidence might disappear if police dashcam footage of the fatal crash is not preserved before the 90-day deletion window?

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1 total

Fox News2h ago

Misty Leslie Killed by Independence Police SUV in Kansas City Area Crash

Independence Police SUV Crash Kills 48-Year-Old Misty Leslie as Missouri Probe Examines Emergency Response

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