Mom Leads Cops On High-Speed Pursuit That Ends In Terrible Crash – And Officers Found The Most Horrific Thing In The Backseat

A mother in Kansas has been charged with murder after her 17-month-old son was killed in a car crash that she caused after she led police officers on a high-speed pursuit through Atchison County this past Sunday.

Maria Papalas (pictured above, mugshot) has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of her nearly one-and-a-half-year-old son Mixalis Papalas-Schultz, who succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday. According to cops, the 28-year-old fled from the scene of a crash on Sunday evening, and then ignored an attempted traffic stop by deputies from the Atchison County Sheriff’s Office. Then, tragically, her escape ended in a horrible car crash and the tragic death of that baby boy.

Now, the 28-year-old mother is facing not only the murder charge, but also other charges for fleeing a law enforcement officer, aggravated endangerment of a child, interference with law enforcement, battery on a law enforcement officer, driving under the influence, possession of marijuana, and reckless driving.

Per cops, Papalas was first tracked by sheriff’s deputies around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday evening after she allegedly crashed her car into a wall on the side of a road. When a responding deputy pulled up and got out of his car to approach Papalas, she sped away. He ran back to his car, and the chase was on.

Papalas was going so fast, and driving so out of control, that the responding deputy actually lost sight of her car during the pursuit. But at one point, he noticed a cloud of dust coming from off the road up ahead. When he went to investigate, he found that she’d ran the car off the road, smashed through a fence, and crashed into several trees after rolling the car several times in the horrific accident.

As the deputy arrived, Papalas was climbing out of the wreckage. He then reportedly witnessed her reaching into the backseat and trying to pull her toddler out of the window, too.

OMG…

He ran up, at which point she allegedly began to resist arrest by punching and kicking him, per the arrest affidavit. Eventually, he was able to subdue her. Then, when the deputy discovered that there was in fact a little boy severely injured in the backseat, he then immediately called for first responders to come render aid to the child.

Paramedics got there in minutes, and eventually transported Mixalis all the way to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City with life-threatening injuries. Sadly, after two terribly difficult days in which doctors fought to save him, the 17-month-old boy succumbed to his injuries. Now, Papalas is being held at the Atchison County Jail on a $500,000 bond as she awaits her next court appearance. So f**king heartbreaking…