Wisconsin police chase ends in deadly crash in Newport Township; 4 children among 8 injured: sheriff

Sunday, July 7, 2024
NEWPORT TOWNSHIP, Ill. (WLS) -- Our coverage of this story has moved here.

A high-speed chase from Wisconsin to Chicago's north suburbs ended in a deadly crash on Saturday afternoon, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said.

A 32-year-old Salem, Wisconsin man was driving a stolen Lexus GS400 in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin when local police officers tried to stop him at about 4:30 p.m., a preliminary law enforcement investigation shows.



The driver fled at a high rate of speed, and a Pleasant Prairie police officer chased after him, using a tire deflating device near the intersection of Kilbourne and Russell roads in unincorporated Zion.



The sheriff's office said the man continued driving recklessly and ignored a red light at the intersection of Kilbourne Road and Route 173 in Newport Township, where the Lexus collided with a GMC Yukon.

The Lexus' driver was killed in the crash. No one else was in that vehicle.

Eight people in the GMC were injured.

A 51-year-old passenger suffered critical injuries and was transported to a local hospital.

The GMC's driver, a 30-year-old man, and six other passengers - a 20-year-old woman, a 28-year-old man, a 15-year-old boy, a 15-year-old girl an 11-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl - all suffered non-life-threatening injuries.



The Lake County Coroner's Office will perform an autopsy on the Lexus' driver, whose name is being withheld pending next of kin notification, the sheriff's office said. That driver had a revoked driver's license, an active arrest warrant out of Lake County for possessing methamphetamine and was the suspect in several burglaries in the area.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office Technical Crash Investigations Team is investigating.
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