KC Man Sentenced for Firearm, Crack Cocaine after Leading Police on 100 Mph Chase

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man who was arrested after leading police officers on a 100-miles-per-hour chase in Independence, Mo., was sentenced in federal court today for illegally possessing a firearm and crack cocaine.

Brad L. Akins, 27, of Kansas City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to six years and six months in federal prison without parole.

On April 25, 2014, Akins pleaded guilty to possessing crack cocaine with the intent to distribute and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.

Akins was arrested on March 30, 2013, after leading Independence police officers on a high-speed chase. An officer attempted to stop Akins’s vehicle for a speeding violation, but Akins fled, leading officers in pursuit at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. Akins was swerving in between cars and driving on the shoulder of the road when the pursuit was terminated as it was becoming too dangerous.

Officers exited at the Blue Ridge Cut-Off on I-70 and were signaled by several citizens, who pointed them to Akins’s vehicle in the Denny’s restaurant parking lot. The vehicle was abandoned, damaged and the air bags deployed. A witness told officers she heard a loud crash, then saw Akins get out of the vehicle and run towards the nearby Drury Inn. The witness also saw a female with several children get out of the vehicle and enter the Denny’s restaurant.

Akins, who was hiding behind a fence, was apprehended. A witness told police officers that Akins had used the public bathroom in the lobby of Drury Inn; he was in the bathroom for only about 10-15 seconds then left the hotel. Officers found a loaded Bersa Firestone .40-caliber pistol hidden in the trash can in the hotel’s bathroom. The gun, which was buried under a large amount of unused Kleenex, had been reported as stolen.

Officers observed skid marks on the concrete median of the roadway and concluded that Akins lost control of the vehicle due to excess speed, causing him to strike the median and blow out several tires. Officers found a plastic bag containing eight separate, smaller bags of crack cocaine in the front center console of Akins’s vehicle.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce E. Clark. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department.