UPDATE: Child killed in hit-and-run was Eudora student; law enforcement still seeking van

photo by: Contributed

A driver of a van similar to this one is being sought after a fatal hit-and-run Saturday.

Updated at 2:59 p.m. Thursday, May 19

A 10-year-old girl who was a passenger on a motorcycle struck by van Saturday on Kansas Highway 10 has died.

Witness statements and vehicle parts collected by sheriff’s office investigators indicate that the van, which left the scene on East 1900 Road, is a 2015-2019 white Ford Transit-250, according to a Sunday email from Douglas County Sheriff’s Office spokesman George Diepenbrock. The email states the vehicle is missing a black front-end bumper cover and front splash guard, and it likely has front end damage.

On Sunday evening, the superintendent of Eudora Public Schools, announced via a letter to district patrons that a student at Eudora Elementary School was fatally injured in a traffic accident this weekend, but did not further identify the student.

“We have reached out to the family to offer our condolences,” Superintendent Stu Moeckel said in the letter. “Please keep the student’s family friends and EES staff in your thoughts.”

The Sheriff’s Office asks for anyone who can help identify the driver and vehicle to call 785-843-0250 and reference case number, D22-09801. The Sheriff’s Office is also trying to contact a witness who rendered aid Saturday, according to a Facebook post from the department.

The original story follows:

Authorities are searching for the driver of a van that left the scene of a crash that sent a motorcyclist and his 10-year-old passenger to the hospital, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

In an email to the Journal-World, sheriff’s office spokesman George Diepenbrock said deputies responded to the crash at about 5:15 p.m. Saturday near a Kansas Highway 10 overpass in the 1300 block of East 1900 Road, between Lawrence and Eudora. At the scene, deputies found a 54-year-old motorcyclist and his 9-year-old female passenger; Diepenbrock said the man had serious injuries that were not life-threatening, and the girl had critical injuries. Both were transported to Overland Park Regional Medical Center, Diepenbrock said.

As of around 8 p.m., Diepenbrock said that the girl, who was wearing a helmet, was in stable condition.

Diepenbrock said that prior to the crash, the motorcycle was heading north on East 1900 Road when the white delivery van entered the road from the eastbound off-ramp of K-10. The van hit the motorcycle and overturned it, Diepenbrock said, and the front bumper separated from the van. Diepenbrock said witnesses then saw the van leave the scene, heading east on K-10.

Law enforcement officers are still looking for the van and its driver, Diepenbrock said. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (785) 843-0250.

Law enforcement was still at the scene at 8 p.m., and the area where the crash occurred was still closed, Diepenbrock said.

Editor’s note: The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office initially misreported Brouhard’s age as 9. She was 10.

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