Records ID Wichita man killed in crash after police chase; car linked to larcenies

Michael Stavola
·3 min read
27

Records have identified the 59-year-old Wichita man killed Thursday after a short police chase.

Kennedy Jewel Edmond collapsed near where he rolled a 2005 Toyota Corolla on Washington near Osie after police had started and called off a chase, according to Wichita police and the Kansas Highway Patrol crash log.

Edmond was taken to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis where he later died.

The 49-year-old Wichita man riding with Edmond and the 67-year-old Tulsa woman driving the car Edmond hit both complained of pains but declined to be taken by EMS to the hospital, a trooper wrote in the crash log.

Police were looking for the vehicle Edmond drove in connection with several larcenies, Wichita police spokesperson Trevor Macy said. The vehicle was spotted Thursday morning near Hydraulic and Wassall.

An officer turned on his lights at Pawnee and Washington after seeing a traffic violation. The driver of the Corolla immediately took off.

Bodycam footage shows the driver passing an SUV just after crossing Pawnee while headed north on Washington. The driver than passes a flatbed truck and another SUV.

As the officer passes the flatbed, he says over the radio: “Vehicle’s taking off on me. I am not going to pursue.”

Seconds later, the officer says the driver just passed Mount Vernon and is probably driving between 60 and 70 mph. The posted speed limit is 30 mph.

Just north of Funston while still headed north on Washington, the driver tried to pass a 2010 Buick Lacrosse on the right, a trooper wrote in the crash log. The driver sideswiped the Buick and then overturned.

A Toyota Corolla passenger vehicle lying on its top after being involved in a crash that left a man dead Thursday morning.
A Toyota Corolla passenger vehicle lying on its top after being involved in a crash that left a man dead Thursday morning.

Debris from the crash with the Buick damaged a parked 2018 Hyundai Sonata.

The Toyota came to rest on its top in the southbound lane, facing south. A shoe, drill, glass and other items were scattered in the road.

Macy said the Toyota has been linked to multiple incidents: a couple of drug cases last year, shoplifting at Von Maur at the Towne East Mall involving one suspect in September, an attempted robbery at Carolyn Sayre’s Fine Jewelry (at Douglas and Oliver) on Jan. 13 and, that same day, a felony theft of over $1,500 worth of jewelry at Burnell’s Fine Jewelry and Design, 550 North Rock Road.

Edmond has eight convictions in Kansas that date back to the 1980s, Kansas Department of Corrections records show, including voluntary manslaughter that happened in 1984 in Reno County. Both Edmond and his brother, who was a minor when the incident occurred, were convicted in the fatal beating and stabbing in Reno County, according to Wichita-Eagle Beacon archives.

In Sedgwick County, he has convictions for an aggravated battery that happened in 1983, theft and burglary from 2007, theft and burglary again in 2008 and aggravated robbery that happened in 2010, KDOC records show.

He was last released from prison in 2018 and paroled in April 2021, records show.