Baby and teenager killed in Alorton crash, police say
An 11-month-old baby girl and a 19-year-old man were killed in a two-vehicle traffic crash in Alorton early Saturday morning.
Dijah Russell, 11 months old, of the 6600 block of Carver Street in East St. Louis and Dominic Willis, 19, of Belleville were identified as the victims, according to St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr.
Alorton Police Detective Gilda Johnson said a call reporting the accident with persons trapped came in at midnight at Homeside Street and New Missouri Avenue.
“Once police officers arrived on scene, they located the two vehicles involved and determined that two people, a baby and and adult male were deceased,” Johnson said.
Dye said Dijah was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:57 a.m. and Willis at 12:58 a.m. Saturday.
Relatives could not be located for comment.
Willis, the infant and another male passenger were in Willis’ dark blue Malibu at the time of the accident. There was no information available on the passenger who was traveling with him, Johnson said. It was not immediately clear what the child’s relationship was to Willis.
Johnson said it appears Willis was trying to pass a vehicle and was struck in the driver’s door by a white van.
“Witnesses said he was trying to pass another vehicle but was not able to get around the vehicle he was trying to pass due to oncoming traffic. But, that is all part of the traffic reconstruction investigation,” Johnson said.
The driver of the van suffered minor injuries.
The Illinois State Police Traffic Reconstruction unit processed the scene.
Alorton Fire Chief DeMario Douglas said firefighters were in and near the fire station at the time of the call and were able to respond to the scene within two minutes of receiving the “entrapment call.”
“We extricated the baby first from behind the driver’s seat,” Douglas said.
Douglas said the child was not in a baby seat.
“She was pinned behind the driver’s seat and floor board,” he said.
“The driver was pinned inside of the vehicle, too. Paramedics announced he was deceased. We continued to focus on the baby. We got the baby out within five minutes,” Douglas said.
Douglas said it appears the Malibu was traveling west and tried to pass the vehicle in front of him and swerved into the van that was traveling east on New Missouri.
Firefighters were on the scene for five hours, Douglas said.
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 5:17 PM.
