photo by: Adobe Stock

A Lawrence teen who was seriously injured in a fatal car accident last year in Leavenworth County was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter.

Kaiden Jordan Jimenez was taken into custody in Overland Park on a felony warrant out of Leavenworth County, though it wasn’t immediately clear if the warrant pertained to the 2025 wreck or to some other matter.

As the Journal-World reported, Jimenez was involved in a head-on collision on the morning of April 30, 2025, on Interstate 70. Jimenez, 18 at the time, was driving a 2025 Honda Civic east on I-70 just past the Douglas County line near the Lawrence Service Area in Leavenworth County when he went off the road into the left ditch, according to a crash report from the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Jimenez’s vehicle bounced off two drainage pipes in the ditch and continued on into the westbound lanes of traffic, where it struck head-on a 2023 Mercedes Benz van, driven by Jonathan Brown, 34, of Kansas City, Missouri. Brown’s vehicle then spun and slid backward into the ditch and hit an embankment, which knocked the van onto its side. Brown was also seriously injured while his passenger, 28-year-old Shane Greiner, of Kansas City, Kansas, was killed in the crash, according to the report.

Leavenworth County Jail records indicate that Jimenez is being held on a $150,000 bond.

In addition to whatever criminal charge Jimenez might be facing, he is also being sued by the Kansas Turnpike Authority over the damaged drainage pipes. KTA claims in a petition filed this month that Jimenez was driving negligently and carelessly when he damaged the pipes. KTA is asking for $3,721 in damages and $281 in attorney fees.