By Paul Thompson
Northeast News

Shaymaa Saudi, 35, tragically lost her life on January 15, 2017 in a fatal car wreck at the intersection of St. John and Askew that was originally ruled a single-car accident by the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.

Eventually, new evidence led authorities to consider the crash a byproduct of a road rage incident, and in June 2017 the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against 21-year-old Juan L. Sanchez. On August 22, 2018, Sanchez pleaded guilty to 1st Degree Manslaughter and Tampering with Physical Evidence; he now awaits a sentencing hearing on October 19, 2018. In addition to those charges, Sanchez also faced two counts of Armed Criminal Action, along with single counts of Assault in the 1st Degree and Leaving the Scene of an Accident.

According to charging documents in the case, Sanchez was accused of bumping Saudi’s car off the road during a high-speed chase that followed an altercation with her husband, Abbas Alhashemi. Alhashemi recounted to authorities that a black Ford F-150, later determined to be driven by Sanchez, pulled out in front of him on St. John Avenue and stopped his vehicle. Alhashemi honked his horn, leading Sanchez to pull a pitchfork out of the truck and begin approaching his vehicle. When Alhashemi told Sanchez he didn’t want any trouble, Sanchez got back into his truck and continued westbound on St. John. At least for a moment.

Before long, however, Sanchez stopped again and intentionally reversed into Alhashemi’s vehicle. He once again got out of his truck, grabbed the pitchfork, and approached Alhashemi’s car. Alhashemi and Saudi exited the vehicle, and Sanchez swung the pitchfork at them. Alhashemi confronted Sanchez, removing the pitchfork from his possession. In response, Sanchez got back into his truck, turned it around, and nearly struck Alhashemi, who was still standing in the street. Alhashemi swung the pitchfork as Sanchez passed, smashing the passenger-side window.

Sensing continuing trouble, Alhashemi demanded that Saudi get back into the vehicle and leave the scene. Sanchez then circled Alhashemi in the street, which Alhashemi believed was an attempt to run him over. Suddenly, Sanchez changed course and drove westbound on St. John Avenue, towards Saudi. Alhashemi got into the vehicle of a friend who passed by, and the pair headed towards Saudi. While traveling westbound on St. John, however, they noticed Sanchez’s black truck pass them driving eastbound with no headlights on. They turned around and followed, witnessing Sanchez park the vehicle at a home near St. John and Jackson.

Other witnesses told authorities about their vantage point of the crash. One witness, who was outside of his home on St. John when he saw Sanchez chasing Saudi, told authorities that Sanchez attempted a “pit maneuver,” where he clipped the back left side of Saudi’s vehicle. The witness said the Saudi quickly lost control of her vehicle and hit a curb. Shortly thereafter, the witness told authorities that he heard a loud crash.

Another witness contacted a KCPD detective to offer his account of events. The second witness recalled seeing both cars traveling at a high rate of speed, before Sanchez’s Ford clipped Saudi’s vehicle as she attempted to change lanes. The contact led Saudi to lose control of the car and eventually slam into a utility pole.

A third witness, driving a gold 2005 Ford Explorer, recalled seeing the initial altercation, with details that matched Alhashemi’s account. This witness saw Saudi drive away from the scene, and also saw Sanchez follow in hot pursuit, blowing through a stop sign at St. John and Van Brunt at a high rate of speed. The witness, following the chase from roughly a half-block behind, saw the Ford take maneuvers that caused Saudi to lose control of her vehicle. Following the crash, this witness tailed Sanchez while calling the police. They reported seeing Sanchez driving erratically with the headlights off, hitting parked cars, and driving the wrong direction on one-way streets.

The only account in the charging documents that didn’t sync up with Alhashemi’s was that of Sanchez himself, who suggested that the initial confrontation occurred because he thought Alhashemi hit his truck’s bumper while tailgating him. In Sanchez’s version, Alhashemi grabbed the pitchfork from his truck bed and smashed his driver’s side window as he was about to leave. Sanchez also claimed that he believed Alhashemi was still in his vehicle as Saudi drove it away. He admitted “tapping” the bumper of the car, causing the fatal wreck, but suggested that he didn’t see the crash happen.

Sanchez also told police that after parking his truck at his mother’s house on St. John Avenue, he returned the next day to put a tarp over the vehicle and remove the license plate. Asked why he felt the need to take the license plate off, Sanchez reportedly responded, “just cause.”

A child was in a booster seat in the back of Saudi’s car at the time of the crash, but escaped the incident with serious but non-life threatening injuries. For a brief spell, KCPD concluded that Saudi’s vehicle “was traveling west on St. John when, for unknown reasons, it left the roadway and made contact with a metal utility pole.”

Police credited witness testimony for helping to break the case open. At the time, the Northeast News spoke with area resident Amanda Sanchez, who said that she heard what sounded like a race car in the moments prior to the fatal crash. Her son relayed seeing a black truck in addition to the victim’s vehicle, and after the crash, Sanchez said that she also saw a black truck circle back around the scene more than once.

“The truck slowed down and went back around a couple of times. People started coming out, and there was a lot of commotion,” said Sanchez. “The last time he came around, we tried to get his license plate. It was (raining), so we couldn’t tell.”

Sgt. Kari Thompson, then of the KCPD Media Unit, acknowledged in the days following the crash that police had come to believe that the wreck was the result of “a purposeful event that resulted in a death.”