Chiefs doctor pleads guilty, accepts $2,000 fine, after fatally striking ‘Good Samaritan’
Kansas City Chiefs team doctor Michael Monaco pleaded guilty to misdemeanor careless driving Friday after fatally striking a ‘Good Samaritan’ at the scene of a highway crash in November 2023.
Monaco hit and killed Robert Piper, 50, around 1:45 a.m. on November 6, near I-70 and I-470. Piper, who lived in Blue Springs, had gotten out of his car to help a Chevrolet Equinox that had flipped onto its back, according to the Independence Police Department.
The Equinox, which was driven by a 15-year-old without a license, had hit a rock embankment, swerved off of I-70, then flipped back onto the highway, The Star reported. The Equinox was found to have been stolen from Kansas City.
As Piper tried to help the driver of the Equinox for about three minutes, several cars swerved around the accident. Monaco, driving a Ford pickup truck, did not brake, police said. Both Piper and an occupant of the Equinox were pronounced dead on the scene.
Monaco agreed Friday to pay a $2,000 fine. He will have at least two and up to four points added to his drivers’ license. Prosecutors opted not to impose the year of jail time that can be on the table for reckless driving misdemeanors in Missouri.
The second deceased victim, a teenager, has not been publicly identified.
Monaco is the team physician for the Kansas City Chiefs, specializing in internal medicine. He attended medical school at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He was returning home from a Chiefs game abroad, when the team played the Miami Dolphins in Germany, the Star previously reported.
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office described the fine as “the most appropriate outcome” in a statement Friday.
“Our sympathies go to the families of both victims, one who died young and promising and another who simply was trying to offer aid and comfort,” prosecutors wrote.
Piper’s family filed a lawsuit against Monaco in January, alleging that Monaco did not even attempt to brake and that eight other cars managed to avoid hitting Piper.
The prosecutor’s office found that Monaco was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol while driving. The January lawsuit also alleged Monaco was fatigued, which was denied by Ralph Monaco, who is Monaco’s lawyer and brother-in-law.
Ralph Monaco has described the crash as an “unavoidable accident.”
The driver of the Equinox was found to be under the influence of marijuana, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
“Our community, especially young teens, should heed a life-and-death lesson here,” prosecutors wrote Friday. “Underage drivers on drugs pose a deadly threat.”
It’s more common for traffic accidents in Missouri to involve younger drivers than it is to involve drivers under the influence, but the latter is more fatal. Between November 2023 and May 2024, 25% of motor vehicle accidents in Missouri involved a younger driver and 3.9% involved alcohol or drugs, according to state data.
Crashes involving younger drivers have killed 43 people in the state since November 2023, and crashes involving drugs or alcohol have killed 50.
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed reporting.
