In a haunting overnight tragedy that left one dead and two hospitalized, a 14-year-old girl smashed a stolen car into a light pole in Encino, creating an inferno from which there was no escape for one backseat passenger. The fatal crash occurred Tuesday around 12:15 a.m. at the Ventura and Balboa Boulevards intersection, as reported by CBS News Los Angeles.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers noticed the vehicle, bereft of its headlights at night—a beacon of ominous intent in the shadowed streets, driving south on Balboa Boulevard. When officers signaled the vehicle to halt, the teen driver hammered the accelerator and fled, according to ABC7.
As the cops trailed, the car careened out of control, colliding with a light pole and promptly erupting into flames. Despite the efforts of law enforcement to rescue the occupants, a girl, reportedly a passenger in the back seat could not be saved and was pronounced dead on-site. The driver and another passenger, an 18-year-old, were extracted and survived, now recovering in the hospital, as per FOX Los Angeles.
The identities of the teens have not been released amid the ongoing investigation. While the darkened heavens wept upon the city, perhaps mourning the recklessness that paved the road to calamity for these youths, the official cause of the crash remains a topic of inquiry. The extent of injuries for the two survivors is currently unknown as per officials' last updates, and it is yet to be seen what criminal charges, if any, will be levied against the underage driver who steered this tragedy into motion.
