17 year old juvenile dies after crash trying to elude authorities

Monday, December 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A head-on crash along Highway 75 turned deadly late Monday night. Tulsa Police say they tried to stop a juvenile who sped away. They say they stopped the chase as soon as he started speeding in the wrong lane near 56th Street North, but the juvenile kept on going.

News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says Amy Stevens was driving to Tulsa from Ocheleta with her three children, ages five, eight and ten about 915 PM Monday when she saw the unexpected. "I was in the fast lane, I'd just passed a red car when I saw headlights coming in my lane really fast." She tried to avoid the certain head-on crash and swerved just enough to get sideswiped and sent spinning. "I thought I was going to die when we were spinning around, or we were really going to get hurt, but, God was with us. Nobody was hurt."

Police say after the driver of the silver Camaro hit Amy, he plowed nearly head-on into this white pick-up. Officers say they stopped the chase as soon as the man began driving the wrong way on the highway. Tulsa Police Captain Jim Hunter, "The officers immediately understood that the vehicle was going north in the southbound lanes and backed off. They couldn't do anything about it. This was just simply someone who wanted to get away from police."

Officers with lights and sirens are did parallel the car, trying to the warn the drivers ahead that danger was coming. When these two vehicles crashed, they burst into flames and the victims in the white truck were trapped in the fire. The officers pulled them all three people out of the burning truck; the driver of the Camaro, a 17 year old juvenile, died immediately.

The victims were taken to a Tulsa hospital. Two of the three are still be treated. The third victim was treated and released.