Kansas City is mourning the loss of a police officer after he was fatally struck by a driver fleeing law enforcement while attempting to deploy stop sticks.

The Kansas City Police Department in Kansas identified the slain officer as 26-year-old Hunter Simoncic.

The young officer graduated from the department’s academy in 2023.

Simoncic was struck early Tuesday morning while deploying stop sticks on State Avenue in an effort to stop a driver who was fleeing law enforcement, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Dennis Mitchell III, 31, is accused of hitting Simoncic and is charged with capital murder, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of theft, according to Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree on Wednesda

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