A 15-year-old Richards High School student was killed in a hit-and-run crash Monday morning in southwest suburban Chicago Ridge, less than a block from the school.
Chicago Ridge officers were looking for a 2007 Volkswagen Beetle that was wanted in connection with multiple hit-and-run crashes a short time earlier in Oak Lawn, according to a statement from Chicago Ridge police.
An officer spotted the Beetle heading south on Central Avenue through the intersection with 107th Street, police said. The officer made a U-turn to follow the Beetle and saw it hit the girl, who was walking along Central Avenue in the 10700 block.
The officer stopped to help the girl while the Beetle drove off, police said. She was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not released any details.
Another officer eventually pulled the Beetle over on Central, several blocks south of the scene, police said. The driver, a 25-year-old Oak Lawn man, was taken into custody.
Oak Lawn police said the car was wanted in connection with a hit-and-run crash at 7:36 a.m. at 95th Street and Central. It had rear-ended another vehicle that was stuck in traffic, forcing it into a third vehicle.
The Beetle kept going south on Central before crossing into the oncoming traffic and sideswiping a northbound vehicle near 97th Street, authorities said. No injuries were reported in any of the Oak Lawn crashes.
The fatal crash remains under investigation by Chicago Ridge police, with the assistance of the Illinois State Police Accident Reconstruction investigators.
