Kansas Highway Patrol hasn't produced reports about crash in which 3 Girl Scouts died
An absence of necessary documents from the Kansas Highway Patrol has delayed the preliminary hearing for the driver charged with crimes linked to a highway crash in October that killed three Topeka Girl Scouts.
Shawnee County District Court Judge Jessica Heinen on Friday postponed the hearing, which had been set to take place Aug. 30 for Amber Peery, 33, who faces charges that include two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
Heinen made that move at the request of Peery's attorney, Vanessa Riebli, who said the highway patrol hasn't produced necessary records, data and reports from its critical highway accident reconstruction team.
Because the highway patrol hasn't said when those documents will be available, Heinen scheduled a status conference in the case to take place at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 20, her order said.
The prosecutor, deputy district attorney Lauren Amrein, didn't object to Riebli's request for a postponement.
Court records show that request was made at a hearing held Tuesday, which would have been the 10th birthday of Kylie Lunn, a girl killed in the crash.
What happened in the crash that killed three Topeka girls?
Peery tried to make a U-turn Oct. 8 through an opening in a Kansas Turnpike barrier wall southwest of Topeka, resulting in a crash that killed three girls who were her passengers, a highway patrol accident report said.
Peery and her five passengers, two of whom survived, were en route to a Girl Scout event at Tonganoxie when Peery realized they were going in the wrong direction on the turnpike, she told a trooper.
The crash claimed the lives of Peery's passengers Kylie Lunn and Laila El Azri, both 9, and Brooklyn Peery, 8.
Brooklyn Peery was Amber Peery's daughter.
Amber Peery and two other passengers — her daughter, Carrington Peery, 5, and Gabriella Ponomarez, 9 — suffered injuries but survived.
Amber Peery had been set to appear at an Aug. 30 preliminary hearing in Shawnee County District Court to determine if probable cause exists to bind her over on the criminal charges she faces.
Her family's wishes prompted Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay to not charge Peery regarding her daughter's death, Kagay told The Capital-Journal in June.
More: 'It's illegal, but we did it': Driver says she followed peer's advice in fatal U-turn
Topeka driver says she turned on blinker before starting U-turn
Peery was driving a 2018 Dodge van southbound on the turnpike when she apparently attempted to turn around through an opening in the barrier wall after realizing she had mistakenly taken the southbound exit at the turnpike's South Topeka interchange and was going the wrong direction, the accident report said.
Peery said she was following the lead of a friend in another vehicle who had made the same error.
No off-ramps exist between the turnpike's South Topeka exit and its next exit 30 miles to the southwest of that, at Admire.
Peery's vehicle was struck in its driver's side rear quarter panel area by a semi-trailer driven by Robert Russell, 71, of Huntsville, Alabama, the report said.
Russell said he had been southbound on the turnpike in the right lane when he saw a van ahead of him on the right shoulder. He said he moved to the left far lane and the van turned in front of his semi.
The crash report quoted Peery as indicating she turned on her left blinker before starting to turn.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Hearing postponed for driver in crash that killed 3 Topeka Girl Scouts
