Police turn fatality report over to district attorney

Lawrence Police have finished their report on a wreck that killed a 6-year-old boy last week, leaving Dist. Atty. Charles Branson’s office to review the case and decide whether to press charges.

“It’s under review. We just got it late this morning,” Branson said Wednesday.

Bryce Olsen, a kindergarten student at Prairie Park School, died Jan. 30 after being struck by a minivan at the intersection of East 25th Terrace and Harper Street. According to the written police report, officers at the scene believed the driver of the minivan, Peter Matthias Kwesi Afful, 45, was being inattentive and failed to yield the right of way while making a right turn onto East 25th Terrace.

But Branson said that in order to support the crime of vehicular homicide, prosecutors must show that a driver made a mistake that goes beyond a simple traffic infraction.

“The case law is very clear that it has to be something more than mere negligence. Mere negligence is typically like a traffic infraction – inattentive driving, running a stop sign, speeding, improper lane change, those type of things,” he said. “It has to be something other than just a traffic mistake. … They’re very difficult cases to prove. We struggle with these cases all the time.”

For example, Branson decided not to pursue charges in the death of 51-year-old Betty “B.J.” Irvin, who died in May after a head-on wreck on Route 1029 outside Lecompton. In that case, Branson said, the other driver had crossed the center line, but it wasn’t enough to justify charges being filed, he said.

“It’s an accidental homicide, if you will,” he said.

By contrast, the driver who struck and killed 25-year-old Jodie Hatzenbihler in April as she walked across West Sixth Street had a blood-alcohol level of nearly twice the legal limit. He was eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter.