Worcester Police say officers weren't chasing SUV before crash that killed 13-year-old girl
WORCESTER – A crash in Worcester on Saturday killed a 13-year-old girl and left four other teenagers with serious injuries.
At a press conference Wednesday, Worcester investigators wanted to set the record straight about some "false narratives" circulating on social media. They offered a timeline of the moments leading up to the crash on Main Street.
"The city of Worcester suffered horrible tragedy over the weekend," Worcester Police Lt. Sean Murtha said.
As one devastated family makes funeral arrangements and four other families sit at their teens' hospital bedsides, Worcester investigators are studying the seconds before when those five teens in a stolen SUV sped down Main Street.
"We believe the operator of the white SUV saw the cruiser lights and knowing he was in a stolen car decided to take off because he thought the police might be after him which we were not," Murtha said. "We didn't know the car was stolen."
Police say those cruiser lights followed a different downtown call. Two Worcester officers were backup responding to an assault.
"When their assistance was no longer needed on the call, they were asked to retrieve a cruiser for an officer who was transported by ambulance to the hospital earlier in the night," Murtha said.
Police say when the officers turned on their lights to go pick up the cruiser, they noticed the SUV driving erratically but did not pursue it in downtown traffic. Moments later it crashed, killing the 13-year-old front seat passenger and sending four others to the hospital. A fifteen-year-old is still in critical condition.
"He's in a medically induced coma right now. He has a very severe brain injury," the teen's aunt, Erica Clay said.
Some of the victims' families have questions about surveillance video and those final seconds. Investigators described the scene as chaotic, with serious injuries.
"All the families need to be supported and we just want to get the right information, so that we all know what's going on," said Tyrone Gamble, an uncle of one of the victims.
Relatives of the victims will meet privately with police Thursday. A vigil for the teens involved in the crash is scheduled for Saturday night at the crash scene on Main Street.