Man charged in hit-and-run that killed school secretary

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - A man has been charged in a hit-and-run crash that killed a popular secretary at a Kansas City high school.

The Kansas City Star reports that Arnold King II was charged Monday with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, leaving the scene of a fatal crash and tampering with a motor vehicle in the Sept. 17 death of 31-year-old Valeria Villa-Alvarado. No attorney is listed for him in online court records.

According to court documents, Kansas City police officers were waiting for a check to be completed on a vehicle that was spotted in an area known for prostitution and drugs when the driver sped off. It turned out that the SUV had been stolen from Overland Park, Kansas.

Officers saw the vehicle weave in and out of traffic before loosing sight of it. Minutes later, the driver ran a stop sign and struck the car that Villa-Alvarado was driving. Officers rushed to the scene and found a 4- and 10-year-old suffering from non-life threatening injuries. Villa-Alvarado, who worked at East High School, died at the scene.

Detectives received numerous anonymous tips saying that King was driving the SUV and that he had gone to a hospital but left when staff told him they had to call police.