Kansas City truck driver involved in crash that killed Boone County assistant fire chief has died

The Kansas City truck driver who allegedly failed to yield to emergency vehicles on Interstate 70 in December, leading to the death of Boone County Fire District Assistant Chief Bryant Gladney, has died following an illness.

Capt. Brian Leer with the Boone County Sheriff's Department confirmed the death of Kevin L. Brunson, 65, on Wednesday morning.

"We were aware Brunson had been ill and in the hospital. After he failed to appear for court, we received information Brunson had died," Leer wrote in an email. "Our detectives were able to confirm (Tuesday) that Mr. Brunson had passed away."

A $10,000 warrant was issued Monday after Brunson's failure to appear for a hearing.

Previously: Suspect in crash that killed Boone County assistant fire chief skips court hearing

Emergency vehicles were stopped with their lights flashing on westbound Interstate 70 between the Millersburg and Centralia exits Dec. 22 responding to an earlier crash. Brunson hit a vehicle occupied by Gladney, who had to be extricated.

It was the first line-of-duty death for the Boone County Fire District.

Gladney, who lived near where the incident occurred, responded because it was in his "first-due" response area within the fire district's regular procedure, said fire district public information officer Gale Blomenkamp in December.

Charles Dunlap covers courts, public safety and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com, or CD_CDT on Twitter. Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Truck driver connected to death of assistant fire chief has died