photo by: Tatum Goetting

Community members say a prayer at a vigil for Brooklyn Brouhard, 10, of Eudora, on Thursday, May 19, 2022. Brooklyn died after a hit-and-run Saturday afternoon on East 1900 Road and Kansas Highway 10.

A man who killed a Eudora child in a hit-and-run accident in May has accepted a plea deal for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated battery.

The man, Jose Alfredo Galiano Meza, of Overland Park, entered the plea deal Thursday in Douglas County District Court. He is accused of hitting 10-year-old Brooklyn Brouhard on May 14 with his van and fleeing the scene. Brouhard was a passenger on the motorcycle driven by her grandfather Barry Larson, 54, of Eudora, who was also injured. Brouhard died the next day at the University of Kansas hospital from injuries suffered in the crash, which happened at East 1900 Road and Kansas Highway 10.

Meza, 29, was originally charged in June with second-degree murder, aggravated battery and leaving the scene of an accident. On Thursday he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a car. Both crimes are level 5 felonies punishable by between 31 and 136 months, Judge Amy Hanley said. The charge of leaving the scene was dropped as part of the plea deal.

photo by: Courtesy of Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Jose Alfredo Galiano Meza (originally reported as Mesa)

After the accident on May 14, Meza fled the state, and he was eventually arrested in Indiana in early June. Meza was booked into the Douglas County Jail with an ICE hold, according to the jail booking log. ICE refers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Meza’s attorney, James Spies, said Meza would likely be deported, though he did not specify a deportation location.

On Thursday, Chief Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Tatum told the court that Meza had been working as a painter in Lawrence that day. She said that he had consumed beer and marijuana, then as he was following a coworker home he ran a stop sign and hit the motorcycle carrying Brouhard and her grandfather. Meza’s attorney said that Meza was following the coworker so that he wouldn’t get lost; in an effort to keep up with the coworker, he didn’t see the stop sign, Spies said.

Brouhard’s family attended the plea hearing Thursday but declined to comment afterward.

Brouhard was a student at Eudora Elementary School. According to her obituary, “She loved gymnastics, playing card games with her great-grandma Warmker, baking with her mom, playing momma to her baby sister Macklyn, playing the ukulele, making videos with her sister Kambree, swimming at her grandma Davis’s house, and spending as much time as possible with her very best friend Erikah.”

Sentencing for Meza has been set for 1:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.