Independence man charged in crash that left grandmother dead
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — An Independence man is now facing charges, accused of fleeing from police and causing a deadly crash.
Matthew Brooks has been charged with second-degree murder, resisting a lawful stop and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle.
Court records say around 11 p.m. Sunday, Independence police were trying to stop a red Ford F-150 without a license plate. When the driver didn’t stop, police started pursuing the truck.
Detectives said the driver, now identified as Brooks, ran a red light at Lee’s Summit and Truman roads, nearly hitting another vehicle.
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Brooks was driving over 100 mph, including going over 90 mph in a 50 mph zone, according to court records. The Independence Police Department said officers followed the driver until he started driving in the wrong direction. That’s when officers ended the chase.
Soon after, Brooks crashed into a 2014 Dodge Avenger, police said, and the driver of that car died in the crash.
That driver was Sharon Ault of Buckner. She was a grandmother of two and worked as a receptionist for an auto dealer.
Ault’s family, including her five children, said they’d spoken with her just hours before the incident.
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“We can’t bring back our mom, but it’s not OK what happened. She had her whole life ahead of her. She had a lot of memories left to make, and it was all cut short,” Emily Rifenburg, Ault’s oldest daughter, told FOX4 on Monday.
Court documents say the truck Brooks was driving had been reported stolen back in May. A preliminary blood test also determined he had amphetamine and methamphetamine in his system.
Prosecutors have requested a $300,000 bond. Brooks does not have a court date set yet.
