Man charged nearly a year after pickup crashed into Wichita home, critically injuring teen
By KAKE News Staff
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WICHITA, Kansas (KAKE) — A 54-year-old man has been charged nearly a year after he allegedly crashed his pickup truck into a Wichita home, critically injuring a sleeping teenager.
Christopher Alexander was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on Sunday. Online court records show he’s charged with three counts of aggravated battery while driving under the influence, possession of drugs and paraphernalia, and driving while suspended. His bond was set at $150,000.
Deandre “Junior” Rogers Jr. was asleep in his bed on the morning of June 2 when a pickup truck crashed into his home near Friends University. The truck entered through Junior’s bedroom and hit him. Junior, who was 18 years old at the time, became trapped under the truck and was quickly extricated by the Wichita Fire Department.
Police said the pickup truck was heading south, allegedly at a high rate of speed, when it left the road and entered the house.
“The truck entered the home through a bedroom, hitting an 18-year-old male who was asleep in bed,” WPD spokesperson Brad Wright said in June. “It continued through the bedroom into the living room, where it struck several more victims who were also sleeping.”
Junior, who had just graduated from Wichita West High School a month prior, was rushed to a local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. A fundraiser started for him says he had plans to attend Friends University in the fall and play the game he loves, football, according to a GoFundMe to help with medical care, therapy and recovery costs.
After emergency brain and skull surgery, Junior was placed into a medically induced coma and put on a ventilator, the GoFundMe says. A brain monitor was installed to track his brain activity, and doctors later confirmed significant damage to the right side of his brain.
Ten days after the crash, doctors took Junior off the ventilator, and he began breathing on his own. The next morning, he took his first sips of water and a few spoonfuls of applesauce.
In an update that same month, Junior’s parents said he would be transferred to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Nebraska. At the time, doctors predicted it would take him six months to a year to recover. No updates have been provided since.
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