By Tim Potter
The Wichita Eagle
WICHITA, Ky. — The 22-year-old man driving a fleeing, speeding car that ran a red light and collided with another car carrying a 16-month-old girl is a parole absconder, a state official confirmed Wednesday.
Kenneth W. Libich has been on absconder status since October, when he stopped reporting to his parole supervisor, said Jeremy Barclay, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections. Barclay said that Libbich is the man suspected of driving the fleeing car in Tuesday’s collision in southeast Wichita.
Libich has been on parole in Sedgwick County after being convicted of criminal possession of a firearm and theft, Department of Corrections records show.
A 16-month-old girl injured in a two-car collision – involving a fleeing car that ran a red light while speeding – remained in critical condition at a Wichita hospital, officials said Wednesday.
Although the girl’s injuries mean she is “still in danger … from what I understand, there are positive signs, so we remain hopeful that the little girl will be OK,” sheriff’s Lt. Lin Dehning said Wednesday. He said sheriff’s supervisors have been regularly checking on the girl’s condition.
She was riding in a child-safety seat in a car driven by her father that was struck by the fleeing car, Kansas Highway Patrol Lt. Dave Hundley said.
The man driving the fleeing car is being detained but has not yet been booked into jail, Dehning said.
Although the Highway Patrol is still investigating the collision, it appears obvious from the initial investigation that the fleeing car was driving well over the 40 mph speed limit, Hundley said.
All vehicle pursuits are reviewed, but there is no indication that the deputy who tried to stop the car violated the sheriff’s policy, Dehning said. He noted that the pursuit was brief — 33 seconds — and that a Wichita police supervisor monitoring the situation called off the chase “the split second” the collision occurred. Dehning said he couldn’t say why the police supervisor issued an order for the chase to be halted.
“Deputies have a duty to pursue,” and in this case the deputy was trying to stop people suspected of auto theft, Dehning said.
“The one person who could have stopped this is the suspect driving” the fleeing car, he said.
The collision was reported at 8:19 a.m. Tuesday at Pawnee and George Washington Boulevard, authorities have said. The collision involved a car that accelerated away when a Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy tried to stop it, the Sheriff’s Office said.
All four people hurt — two from each vehicle — were taken to Wesley Medical Center. The toddler’s father, 34-year-old Rodelio Gales, has been released from the hospital, according to a hospital operator. He was in critical condition as recently as Tuesday night.
A Highway Patrol accident report said Destiny Brown, 32, was a passenger in the fleeing car. She is also no longer a patient at the hospital. The driver, identified in a Highway Patrol report as Kenneth Libich, 22, of Wichita, is under hospital protection and an updated condition report was not given. He was in critical condition Tuesday night.
Authorities have said the collision occurred 33 seconds after a deputy tried to stop the Toyota driven by Libich by activating emergency lights and siren. The blue Toyota went north on George Washington Boulevard, ran a red light and collided with a tan Toyota sedan traveling east on Pawnee.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, a little after 8 a.m. Tuesday, victims of a car theft notified the 911 system the people who stole their vehicle were near 31st Street South and Oliver. The caller told a dispatcher that the suspects “were now in a blue Toyota that left northbound on Oliver,” the office said in a statement. A sheriff’s deputy drove up behind the blue car as it turned northwest onto George Washington and turned on his lights and siren to begin a traffic stop, “but the suspect in the blue Toyota accelerated.”
“Within 33 seconds the suspect ran a red light at Pawnee and was struck in the driver’s side by a tan Toyota Camry,” the statement said. The tan Camry was driven by a 34-year-old man and his 16-month-old daughter. The Sheriff’s Office said the suspects in the blue Toyota Solara were a 22-year-old man and 32-year-old woman.
The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating the collision; the Sheriff’s Office is investigating the auto theft with the aid of the Wichita Police Department.
In a statement Wednesday, the Sheriff’s Office said, “Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the family of the little girl who was hurt in this collision.”