Teen Killed in South Lansing Street Racing Crash Involving 5 Vehicles

Police released more information on April 29 about the racing-related crashes that killed a 15-year-old and hurt 12 others last week and blocked a major south Lansing road for hours with police and emergency services.

They also said that the investigation might take a while to finish.

“We are still not there yet,” Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus said at a news conference, adding that one of the victims was still in critical condition and that any possible criminal charges will depend on how fast the car was going, how bad the injuries were, and other factors that are still unknown. “It will be a while before we know where this all goes in the end.” But the prosecutor’s office knows about it and is ready for it.

The boy had been seriously hurt, and Backus spoke just a few hours before the police reported that the boy had died.

At 8:26 p.m. on April 24, the horrible crime took place on South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, close to Pierce Road.

Investigators think that two drivers were speeding south, which caused a series of accidents involving five cars along a block-long stretch of road, according to Backus.

Backus says that both drivers said they weren’t racing.

“Our witnesses say it’s not true, and the video proves it,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to look into everything.”

Backus said that a 19-year-old man driving a Chevrolet Malibu and a 23-year-old man driving a Jeep Cherokee looked like they were racing. The chief said that the Jeep hit another car at the Pierce intersection before hitting the Malibu. This sent it into northbound traffic, where it crashed into a heavy-duty Ford truck and a Lincoln sedan head-on.

Police had said earlier that the driver of the car at Pierce was trying to make a legal turn.

Backus says that all five cars had “multiple passengers.”

The Malibu driver was thrown out of the car through the windshield, and the chief said that he and his 15-year-old male passenger were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. The driver is better now and was let out of the hospital. The passenger, who was connected to the driver, died on April 29. It was a few hours after Backus and Lansing Mayor Andy Schor talked to reporters that the boy had died.

The driver of the Jeep and two passengers got slight injuries. Other accident victims said they were hurt in a number of ways, including possible broken bones, wounds, and general pain. The victims were between the ages of 3 and 52, according to the police.

Backus says that cops think the driver of the Malibu was thrown because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

Backus said that a team that will study the crash will figure out how fast the cars were going and who was at fault. A police officer said that they can’t press charges until they have more details and know how the injuries will be treated.

“It’s the difference between charging someone with reckless driving causing serious injury and possibly charging them with reckless driving or a related homicide if they don’t get better,” he said.