For Immediate Release

May 25, 2021

A 22-year-old Kansas City man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for causing the November 2019 death of Steve Norris, who was thrown from the back of a truck after the defendant attempted to drive off with the vehicle, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

Skylar K. Waddell, dob, 2/19/1999, was sentenced to 12 years for his plea of guilty to Voluntary Manslaughter and three years for Leaving the Scene of An Accident. The judge set those sentences to run consecutively for a total of 15 years.

According to court records filed today, Kansas City police responded to the northbound lanes of Interstate 435 and Oldman about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019. A witness told them them he had been driving when he observed the victim, 48-year-old Steve Norris, get out of a vehicle and run up to a white truck parked along the Interstate shoulder. He and a man inside the truck were yelling at each other. The defendant jumped into a truck that police determined later was owned by the defendant's girlfriend; Norris jumped onto the back of that truck. Witnesses observed the truck move erratically, swerving and changing lanes in what appeared to them to be an attempt  to throw the victim off the truck. The victim flew off the pick-up truck and landed in southbound lanes of the Interstate. The defendant then stopped his truck and attempted to stop several drivers in the southbound lanes before he fled on foot. The spouse of the victim told police he had parked his truck on the highway after he had a flat tire. He called her to get a ride back to his residence to get tools to change the tire. When they returned to the truck with the flat tire they saw a man inside. She told police her husband had tools inside the truck and other equipment, including scaffolding. She told police it appeared to her that the defendant was attempting to throw Norris from the truck and it also struck cable barriers and a bridge support. Kansas City police located the defendant at a south Kansas City residence he shares with his girlfriend. He was found hiding in the attic.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brady Twenter prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri. 

For more information, contact:

Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile : (816) 674-3954
mmansur@jacksongov.org