Dead body found in trunk after car crashes during police chase in Brooklyn
Police found the lifeless body of a Cahokia man in the trunk of a motorist’s car that had just crashed into a pole near the Brooklyn Police Department at midnight Thursday.
Roderick Taylor, 35, of 24 Helen Court, Cahokia, was found dead inside an unidentified motorist’s car after the motorist, who was intentionally attempting to avoid a police stop, stepped on the gas pedal, causing the vehicle to accelrate at a high level of speed, later crashed into a utility pole near the Brooklyn Police Department at 312 S. Fifth St., Brooklyn.
Taylor had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene, St. Clair County Coroner Rick Stone said.
The driver of the vehicle was speeding through Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m. Police tried to stop the car, but the driver sped up and crashed the car into a pole. The driver had to be pulled out of the car. He was taken to Gateway Hospital and his car was towed to the Brooklyn Police Department, Stone confirmed.
A medical condition on the driver was not immediately available, and police did not release his identity.
At the police department, officers who were doing an inventory of the vehicle to assess the contents in it, found Taylor’s body.
“When they opened the trunk of the car, they found Taylor’s body,” Stone said.
Taylor was pronounced dead at 11:50 p.m. by Deputy Coroner Dennis Nichols. Stone said Taylor’s death was the result of the gunshot wounds he suffered.
This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 3:59 PM with the headline "Dead body found in trunk after car crashes during police chase in Brooklyn."