Haitian community mourns death of loved ones killed in head-on crash on I-29

The Haitian community is grieving after three members of their own were killed and three more injured in a head-on collision on Interstate 29 early Thursday morning.

It happened near the 29 mile marker close to Dearborn.

Court documents reveal the driver, Kyle Mendez, was traveling northbound in a southbound lane and crashed into a van carrying seven people.

Investigators said Mendez said he thought he was driving on a two lane road.

Mendez fled the scene, but the Platte County Sheriff's Department was able to find him via drone. He was hiding in a bean field nearby.

Ryan Bailey, who lives right off of I-29 and near the scene, drove by it on his way to work on Thursday morning.

"You could just tell there was debris and stuff that had been cleared up from the road," Bailey said. "A lot of black marks."

He said he's seen a lot of crashes in his 12 years of driving down I-29 every day.

"Most are like like single vehicular accidents," Bailey said. "But not not usually a head-on or wrong direction."

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports these head-on crashes are rare.

The most recent numbers between 2010 and 2018 show they only account for 3.7 percent of fatal crashes.

KSHB 41 spoke to the victim's pastor, Olain Francois.

He said he's known one of the victims, Joel Similien, for many years, and grew up in the same area with him in Haiti.

"He was a lovely guy, always smiled," Francois said. "He just loved everybody."

Francois said Similien was driving a carpool home from their jobs at a meat plant in St. Joseph.

Passengers included his wife and cousin, who both passed.

Francois said the Haitian community in Kansas City may be small, but it is tight.

"He’s a good friend of mine, not only church member, not only pastor and church member, but we are good friends," Francois said.

Mendez is being held without bond.

If he's convicted of both involuntary manslaughter and fleeing the scene, he could face up to 17 years in prison.

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