From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
A Riverton, Kan., school teacher remains in critical condition at a Joplin hospital following a fatal crash that also killed her 13-year-old daughter and sent the driver of another vehicle to the hospital.
Officials at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin said the status of 41-year-old Teresa Kemp, of Pittsburg, had not changed as of Saturday afternoon.
Kemp and her 13 year-old daughter, Taylor Kemp, were driving home from a church function on Friday night when their vehicle was slammed into by a another car in the midst of a police chase. The crash occurred at 9:35 p.m. Thursday at the intersection of U.S. 400 and U.S. 69 highways, about five miles south of Pittsburg.
The hospital declined to release information on the condition of the driver of the other vehicle, Kaston Leslie Hudgins, 22, of Galena, citing the police investigation.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, both Kemp and Hudgins were life-flighted to St. John’s Thursday night with serious injuries.
Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves did not return calls Saturday to the Globe. Authorities previously have said that a Cherokee County deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop of Hudgins’ vehicle near Crestline when the pursuit began. Groves on Friday declined to reveal the reason for the traffic stop, and said doing so could hinder a potential criminal prosecution against Hudgins.
