For Immediate Release
April 24, 2024
A Jackson County judge on Wednesday sentenced a Tonganoxie, Kan., man, 20, to 10 years in prison for driving recklessly by speeding and running a red light in Kansas City, resulting in a crash that killed a Kansas City police officer, a pedestrian and the officer's K-9 Champ, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
Jerron Allen Lightfoot, dob: 02/18/2004, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of Involuntary Manslaughter 1st Degree.
Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Lightfoot to 10 years in prison. Lightfoot's attorneys sought probation. The judge today sentenced the defendant to 10 years on each conviction, then set those sentences to run concurrently for a total sentence of 10 years.
According to court records, Kansas City police officers responded to East Truman Road and Benton Blvd. on a vehicular crash. Arriving officers saw a man standing by a white Ford Fusion, one of the crashed vehicles. The man was later identified as Jerron Allen Lightfoot, the driver and sole occupant of the white Ford vehicle. The other vehicle in the crash was a marked police car. The police officer, James M. Muhlbauer, was in the driver's seat, unconscious. He was wearing a seatbelt. A police K-9 Champ was deceased in the back second row of the police car. The officer was transported to an area hospital and later pronounced deceased. Police found a second deceased male, Jesse Eckes, under the police vehicle. Eckes had recently found housing and was known for his generosity. Muhlbauer was was the officer who arrested a suspect in a multiple-fatality south Kansas City murder.
Video from the area of the crash, according to court records, showed the police officer was traveling eastbound at E. Truman Road and had a green light at the intersection. The white Ford was traveling southbound on Benton Boulevard at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at the traffic signal just prior to striking the police vehicle. In addition, the police officer's dash cam showed he had a green light as he went through the intersection just prior to the crash. A check of the white Ford's electronic ACM system showed the vehicle's brakes were working just prior to the crash and the vehicle was traveling at 85 mph or more just before impact.
For more information, contact:
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile : (816) 674-3954
www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
mmansur@jacksongov.org
*Charges are only accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded guilty.