Atchison mother charged after 1-year-old dies following police pursuit
By Jenna Wilson
An Atchison, Kansas, woman faces multiple charges including first-degree murder after fleeing from police and crashing her vehicle, which led to the death of her 17-month-old son.
The incident occurred around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 25 when the Atchison Police Department was notified of a vehicle that crashed into a wall in the 700 block of S. Street in Atchison, according to a release from the Atchison County Sheriff’s Office.
The vehicle had lost its front bumper at the crash site and had left the scene. About 10 minutes later, an Atchison County sheriff’s deputy located a vehicle south of the city limits on Sherman Road that matched the vehicle description.
The vehicle was parked off the roadway just north of 244th Road in the grass on the east side of Sherman Road. The deputy passed by the vehicle and noticed only one occupant in the driver’s seat. The deputy turned around in the roadway, activated the emergency lights and pulled in behind the vehicle.
As the deputy approached the vehicle on the driver’s side and began speaking to the driver, later identified as Maria Papalas, 28, of Atchison. Papalas immediately began rolling up the window and then fled the scene at a high rate of speed. The deputy did not observe any other passengers during the short encounter.
The deputy began to follow the vehicle south on Sherman Road but lost sight of the vehicle until he traveled south of 242nd, where he noticed a cloud of dust on the west side of Sherman Road. It was discovered that the vehicle had traveled off the right side (west) of the roadway, over a fence and crashed into trees.
At that time, the deputy notified ATCO Dispatch of the crash location and ran down to the vehicle and found that Papalas standing outside of the vehicle and reaching into the back seat through the window where she removed her 17-month-old child from the vehicle.
When attempting to take Papalas into custody, she began to resist arrest, hitting and kicking the deputy. After a brief struggle, the deputy was able to take her into custody and began to attend to the child until Atchison County Rescue and EMS arrived on scene.
Mixalis Papalas-Schultz, who was 17 months old, was transported to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City with life-threatening injuries. The infant died at Children’s Mercy Hospital two days later, on Tuesday, Aug., 27 at about 2:25 p.m.
Papalas has been booked into the Atchison County Jail for first-degree murder and multiple charges including reckless driving, felony fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer, driving under the influence, aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment, interference with law enforcement, and battery on law enforcement officer.
Papalas made her first court appearance Wednesday afternoon and is scheduled for a hearing on Sept. 6. She remains jailed on $500,000 bond.
