12/20/22 Kansas City, MO – Traffic Pursuit Rammed Police Car – Female In Cuffs Steals KCP Police Car – Struggle With Female Police Officer – Shot In Thigh

December 20, 2022

www.fox4kc.com

A suspect managed to escape her handcuffs and steal a police vehicle Friday prior to a shooting that injured a KCI police officer near Kansas City International Airport.

Platte County prosecutors charged Lacy Perry of Independence, Missouri, with first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, disarming a peace officer, and other related crimes.

Kevin Bloom of Warrensburg, Missouri, faces third-degree assault and resisting arrest, in addition to other charges.

“We do everything we can to keep law enforcement officers safe and when somebody injures a law enforcement officer during the course of an arrest, we’re going to charge those people,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said.

Court documents show a KCI police officer noticed a white 1989 pickup truck leaving an economy parking lot at the airport around 5:15 a.m. Friday that did not have license plates.

The officer said Bloom and Perry were in the truck and refused to stop, even after the officer activated the lights and sirens on his patrol car. The court document also alleges Bloom drove through secured gates and toward the airport, with the officer in pursuit.

Court records show a KCI police officer eventually drove around Bloom’s truck and tried to slow it, but Bloom rammed the patrol car. The officer reported he performed a pit maneuver, which caused Bloom to lose control of the truck and hit a light pole near N.W. Cookingham Road and Bern Street.

The suspect once again tried to get away and allegedly rammed the patrol car again.

After officers arrested Bloom and Perry, a female officer handcuffed Perry and put her in the back of her patrol vehicle. The officer then left Perry unattended and went to assist in Bloom’s arrest, according to the court document.

Court records show Perry escaped from her handcuffs, got into the driver’s seat of the female officer’s patrol car, and began to drive away in it. At one point, prosecutors say she stopped, backed up, yelled at Bloom to run from the arresting officers and get in the stolen patrol car.

When Bloom didn’t comply, the two police officers turned their attention to Perry. They pulled their guns and demanded she exit the stolen patrol car, court records say. When she refused, the officers approached the car.

The female officer told investigators that Perry lunged at her gun as she and the other officer tried to physically remove Perry from the vehicle. The officer said she pulled the gun away from Perry’s hands and toward her holster.

As she was attempting to get her firearm into the holster, the officer heard a gunshot, and she realized she’d been shot in the right upper thigh, court records say.

At this point, investigators have not said if Perry’s hands were on the gun when it fired.

“Regardless of how that weapon happened to go off, if it happens during a struggle, which we allege it did here, that’s a serious, serious crime,” Zahnd said.

The court paperwork also shows that one of the officers picked up the spent shelling casing and placed it in the left front pocket of her duty pants, “due to the chaos of the scene.” The pants and shell casing were retrieved as part of the investigation.

Detectives found a set of handcuffs on the backseat driver-side floorboard of the stolen patrol vehicle. The probable cause says the handcuffs are believed to be the ones placed on Perry’s wrists when an officer first arrested her.

Both Perry and Bloom were taken to hospitals, checked out, and released into police custody.

Doctors also treated and released the officers involved in the arrest and shooting.

Perry was arraigned on charges Monday morning. She pleaded not guilty to the crimes and is scheduled to be in court again Jan. 3.

Bloom was also in court Monday for his arraignment. A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. He’s set to appear in court again Tuesday.