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Man sentenced for 2020 Overland Park shooting that left KCK officer injured

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A Kansas City, Kansas, man will spend more than 20 years in prison for shooting at a police officer in 2020.

On Jan. 9, Jesse James Flaugher was sentenced to 247 months for attempted second-degree murder and nine months for firearm possession by a felon. The charges will run consecutively, which means he must serve time for one sentence and then time for the next one.

The convictions come after a jury found Flaugher guilty on the two charges in October 2024. He was previously charged with aggravated assault in Oklahoma, according to court documents.

The shooting occurred in 2020

The shooting occurred after a hit-and-run crash on Dec. 15, 2020, near the county line on West 47th and Conser streets in Overland Park.

Officer Daniel Vance, a Kansas City, Kan., police officer, was in pursuit of a tan Buick Regal with damage to the rear passenger side, suspected of being involved in at least one hit-and-run incident in Wyandotte County, according to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office when he called off the chase.

“Our officer stopped and ceased pursuing him,” Nancy Chartrand, a public information officer for the Kansas City (Kansas) Police Department, said in a previous interview. “At the same time, that suspect’s vehicle stopped in front of the officer, the suspect got out, and they exchanged gunfire.”

After the gunfire exchange, Flaugher, who was uninjured, got in his car and sped away. Vance was shot in his chest, but the bullet was stopped by his ballistic vest. He was also struck in his left forearm and was transported by ambulance to the University of Kansas Hospital, where he was treated and released.

Police and investigators at South 42nd Street and Metropolitan Avenue in KCK, looking north to Strong Avenue where the suspect vehicle was found in a Dollar Tree parking lot. File photo.

Flaugher was later arrested

Later, officers located Flaugher’s vehicle abandoned in a parking lot at South 43rd Street and Strong Avenue in the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas. A fired cartridge case was found in the vehicle, according to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.

After discovering the vehicle, officers performed a search of the area with assistance from its K-9 unit, as well as the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department’s helicopter and Kansas Highway Patrol troopers.

On Dec. 20, 2020, Flaugher was arrested at a home in Edgerton.

DA’s office said officer’s use of force was justified

In February 2021, the Johnson County District Attorney office announced Vance’s use of deadly force was justified.

No audio or video recordings of the incident exist, Vance had no body camera, and there were no eye witnesses, the district attorney’s office previously reported.

Ballistics evidence support Vance’s version of events, the office reported.

Vance’s attorney and the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department did not return requests for comments on the sentencing.

Go deeper: Police search for suspect after KCK police officer is shot in Overland Park

About the author

Andrew Gaug
Andrew Gaug

👋 Hi! I’m Andrew Gaug, and I cover Shawnee and Lenexa for the Johnson County Post.

I received my bachelor’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and started my career as a business reporter for The Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio.

I spent 14 years as a multimedia reporter for the St. Joseph News-Press before joining the Post in 2023.

Have a story idea or a comment about our coverage you’d like to share? Email me at andrew@johnsoncountypost.com.

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