Pursuit of suspected stolen car ends with death of 17-year-old Cahokia girl

A single-car crash in Alton Friday afternoon sent four to an area hospital, where one of the passengers, a 17-year old girl from Cahokia, died from her injuries.

The 2019 white Nissan was suspected stolen and hit a utility poll on the 600 block of Washington Avenue following a pursuit by police, according to Illinois State Police. The driver of the car was a 16-year-old female from Alton who was taken to a hospital by ambulance for non-life threatening injuries.

Also injured was a 17-year-old male from Belleville and Tyrese M. Crawford, 20, of East St. Louis. The names of the driver and other passengers have not been released by state police, due to their age.

According to a release, the car was traveling southbound on Washington Avenue at about 1:14 p.m. Friday, when the driver lost control and struck the poll. The car overturned, ejecting three of its occupants.

One of them, the 17-year-old Cahokia girl, was airlifted to an area hospital where she later died.

The intersection of Washington Avenue and East Broadway was closed for more than three hours while the scene was cleared, the ISP release said.

No further information has been released and no charges have been filed pending an investigation by Alton Police, state police and traffic crash reconstruction unit.