‘I lost my daughter.’ Teen killed when driver flees cops after Missouri traffic stop
Samantha Washington was a passenger in a car driving through north St. Louis when the vehicle was struck by an SUV fleeing police, Missouri officials say.
The 17-year-old was thrown from the Toyota Avalon and killed in the collision with a Cadillac SRX shortly before 9:30 p.m. Sunday, March 13, police said in a statement provided to McClatchy News.
Now the family is mourning their loss.
“Things happen in the blink of an eye,” father Tyrone Washington told KSDK. “I lost my daughter to a tragic car accident.”
“It’s heartbreaking,” aunt Gwendolyn Rodgers told the TV station. “The only thing we can do is pull together, we have each other.”
Police say the 24-year-old male driver who struck the Avalon was fleeing SWAT officers after they tried pulling him over. They attempted the traffic stop at about 9:18 p.m. after spotting him speeding in the Cadillac, which was later found to be stolen out of Illinois.
With the SUV’s lights out, officials say the man quickly drove away.
“Officers lost sight of the vehicle shortly after initiating the car stop and they returned to their normal patrolling,” according to the department’s statement.
Soon after, the driver “crossed directly in front of officer’s vehicle going east on W. Florissant at a high rate of speed,” police said. That’s when the man struck the Avalon at the intersection of Shreve Avenue and W. Florissant Avenue.
Authorities say the driver of the Avalon had been trying to make a left turn at the intersection when the car was hit. The 28-year-old male driver “was injured but alert” (and walking around) when police arrived at the scene.
Samantha was found lying on the pavement and unresponsive, police said. Responding EMS pronounced her dead at the intersection.
Following the fatal crash, police say the 24-year-old man tried to run away, but he was arrested shortly after.
The investigation is ongoing.
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