March 5, 2024
One night.
Countless lives changed.
Kinsley’s life was taken by an impaired driver.
Two lives were lost. Families, friends, and communities were left to carry the loss. We share what happened because a safe ride home could have changed everything.
What the reconstruction report documents
The choices before the collision.
Drinking before driving.
The report records the other driver’s companion saying they had been drinking together at a restaurant. He said he later dropped her off at her parked car when she wanted to go home.
He denied observing signs of impairment. In his conclusions, the investigator expressed the opinion that the companion had to have known she was in no condition to drive and should have intervened. That is the investigator’s stated opinion.
She entered the interstate the wrong way.
KSP concluded that the other driver entered I-165’s northbound lanes using the northbound exit ramp at exit 7, then traveled south toward mile marker 2 in Warren County, Kentucky.
The report describes a near-collision with a tractor-trailer near mile marker 7 and records pre-collision 911 reports of a wrong-way driver.
Kinsley tried to avoid the collision.
Kinsley was traveling north in the northbound lanes. The report states that she attempted to avoid the collision by braking and steering right. The other car struck hers head-on in the left northbound lane near mile marker 2.
Two lives were lost.
Both drivers sustained fatal injuries. The report records that Kinsley was extricated, transported to Bowling Green Medical Center, and died from her injuries.
What KSP found about impairment
The report identifies alcohol involvement, disregard of traffic control, and failure to keep the proper lane as contributing factors for the wrong-way driver. It records Kinsley’s toxicology as negative for drugs or alcohol and lists no human contributing factors detected for her.
What our family has shared
Our family’s account is that the other driver was visibly impaired before getting into her car. We have also described a vehicle ahead of Kinsley moving right before she passed in the left lane. Those details are part of our family’s account; this reconstruction report does not independently establish them.
Source: Kentucky State Police, Level I Collision Analysis, case 03-24-0072 / CAD 2024-71516, incident March 5, 2024; reconstructionist Tpr. M. Wathen. Summary of Events, Contributing Factors, Pre-Collision Events, Collision Events, Post Collision Events, and Summary and Conclusions.
Before March 5, 2024
Kinsley’s car.
Part of the life she was living.
This was Kinsley’s yellow Dodge Charger before the collision. The photographs below show how one impaired-driving decision changed everything.
The aftermath
The cars tell part of the story.
The loss reaches far beyond what a photograph can show.
Our visual mission
We carry her story
so someone else gets home.
Our family pulls Kinsley’s car on a trailer as part of The KiND Foundation’s impaired-driving awareness mission. Seeing the car makes the consequences real and opens conversations about choices that can save a life.
Behind this car is a daughter. A family. A life that mattered.
We share it in Kinsley’s memory, asking every person who sees it to plan a sober ride and help a friend get home safely.
For those left behind
A lifetime of missing her.
We lost our daughter. The other driver lost her own life. Countless people who loved them were left with grief that did not end that night.
For our family, the loss is carried into every day and every milestone Kinsley should have been here to share. This is why we speak. This is why we ask people to intervene before an impaired person drives.
One decision can save a life.
Make the KiND choice
Step in before
someone turns the key.
Plan a sober ride. Hand over the keys. Call a friend. Help someone stay somewhere safe. Never drive impaired, and never ride with an impaired driver.
Be KiND. Don’t Drink and Drive.