A Clay County man already sitting in jail on an unrelated drug warrant is now facing felony charges after investigators say he fled the scene of a crash that left a teenager injured on a rainy night earlier this month. Terance R. Goodface, 41, was charged in Clay County court with leaving the scene of an accident causing physical injury following the October 1 crash on Salem Road near NE 158th Street.
The teen was struck by a pickup truck that sped off into the dark, rainy night, according to KSHB 41 Kansas City. A driver traveling in the opposite direction witnessed the crash, called 911, and briefly tried to follow the fleeing truck before the suspect switched off the vehicle's headlights, per a Clay County Sheriff's Office statement relayed on Facebook. Unable to keep up, the Good Samaritan turned back to the injured teen, pulling him into their own vehicle to shelter him from the rain while paramedics responded.
Minor Injuries, But a Possible Run-Over
The teen suffered what KSHB described as minor injuries, though paramedics told responders at the scene that one of his legs may have been run over. The driver's rapid decision to stop and help, rather than continue after the truck, likely preserved the dashcam footage that would later prove critical to the investigation.
That dashcam video, combined with a license plate reader used by Clay County deputies, helped investigators zero in on a suspect vehicle, according to the same report. The sheriff's office statement relayed on Facebook adds further detail: crash investigators also relied on tire tracks found at the scene and interviewed the registered owner of the pickup truck as they worked to confirm Goodface's identity.
Already in Custody From a Separate Sweep
Goodface did not need to be tracked down and arrested for the hit-and-run itself — he was already behind bars. According to the Clay County Sheriff's Office, he was arrested on October 8 during a regional warrant sweep, taken into custody specifically for failing to appear in court on a felony narcotic possession charge, before investigators later connected him to the crash. That warrant had nothing to do with the teen being run over.
The sweep that netted Goodface was no small operation. More than 50 officers from nine law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri State Highway Patrol and police departments from Kansas City, Liberty, Gladstone, and Kearney, took part in the multi-agency effort, which the sheriff's office says resulted in 15 arrests and the recovery of two missing teenagers. Hoodline previously covered that sweep in detail in its report, Clay County MO Warrant Sweep.
What the Charge Carries Under Missouri Law
Leaving the scene of a crash is ordinarily a Class A misdemeanor in Missouri, but it becomes a Class E felony whenever the collision causes physical injury, per Missouri Revised Statute § 577.060, as detailed by the Revised Statutes of Missouri. That upgrade carries a maximum sentence of four years in state prison. Property damage exceeding $1,000 or a prior hit-and-run conviction can also trigger felony status under the same law.
Fault is legally beside the point in these cases. Missouri law requires any driver involved in a crash causing injury or property damage to stop and exchange identifying information, regardless of who caused the collision, according to Vindex Law. That means prosecutors do not need to prove Goodface caused the crash to secure a conviction on the leaving-the-scene charge alone. A conviction also carries administrative consequences beyond prison time: 12 points assessed against a driver's record under RSMo § 302.302, triggering automatic license revocation.
Pattern of Hit-and-Run Prosecutions in Clay County
Goodface's case adds to a string of recent Clay County hit-and-run prosecutions. Last month, Hoodline reported that a grand jury indicted a 35-year-old man on felony leaving-the-scene charges five months after a fatal hit-and-run near Interstate 35, a case in which investigators also leaned on license plate reader data and phone records. Just last week, Hoodline also reported that a 41-year-old man was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Clay County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to felony DWI causing death in a 2024 hit-and-run that killed a Kansas City bicyclist on North Oak Trafficway.
Goodface remains held at the Clay County Detention Center in Liberty on a $50,000 cash-only bond. It remains unclear whether additional charges could follow once crash reconstruction work is finalized, or what further treatment the injured teen may require.
