SEDGWICK COUNTY —Friends have established a fundraiser to assist the family of a pregnant Kansas woman who died after a 4-vehicle crash in Wichita that involved a driver fleeing police.
On GoFundme friends wrote: Tuesday July 7, we lost an amazing individual. Samantha Russell tragically passed away in a senseless traffic incident. She leaves behind her husband and her brand new baby boy, Mac. Samantha was an amazing individual who left an impact on everyone she met.
Just before 5 pm on Tuesday, police were dispatched to a disturbance with a gun at a hotel in the 7500 block of West Taft in Wichita, according to Officer Trevor Macy.
At the scene, a 35-year-old male victim reported that a man had robbed him at gunpoint. The victim was able to run away and reported seeing the suspect leaving the hotel with another male suspect.
The robbery suspect was identified as 34-year-old Jamie Chavez of Wichita, who was wanted in connection to a previous robbery. He was located near Maple and Ridge and taken into custody. The other suspect identified as Javan Jermaine Ervin, 37, Wichita, began to flee in a 2002 Dodge Ram northbound on Ridge Road. Officers began pursuing him, but the pursuit was terminated due to the high speed and traffic conditions.
The pickup continued at a high rate of speed, failed to stop at the red traffic light at Central Avenue and collided with a westbound 2000 Chevy Silverado driven by Jordan Samuel Peltzer, 40, Henderson, Nevada.
The impact caused the driver side rear wheels and tires to detach from the vehicle which collided with a 2016 Jeep Compass driven by Connie L. Holt, 73, Wichita, that was stopped on the inside left turn lane from South bound Ridge Road to East bound Central Avenue.
The Dodge Ram then collided with 2019 Mazda CX3 driven by 22-year-old Samantha Lee Russell of Wichita which was stopped behind the Jeep. The Dodge Ram then rolled onto its top and came to a rest in the North bound lanes of Ridge Road.
EMS transported Russell to Wesley Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. She was 33 weeks pregnant. Doctors delivered the baby who was hospitalized in critical condition, according to Macy.
Ervin, Peltzer and Holt were not injured. Ervin attempted to run from the crash but police quickly took him into custody.
Police also booked Jamie Chavez into the Sedgwick County Adult Detention Facility on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery (one from a previous case) and felon in possession of a firearm. Chavez is on parole through the Kansas Department of Corrections.