A Sunday crash on a Thornton Township frontage road ended in tragedy for a Calumet City family, after a 17-year-old driver died when his car left the roadway and slammed into a tree just outside Lansing. The teen, identified by relatives as Miguel Coss-Morales, was taken to UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial in Harvey, where he later died, according to his family.
Crash and investigation
Cook County Sheriff's Police said deputies responded to the area of 183rd Street and the frontage road along Illinois Route 394 in unincorporated Thornton Township after a Toyota Camry ran off the road and struck a tree. Investigators were still combing through the scene and had not released any determination about what caused the wreck, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Family fundraiser and community response
In the days after the crash, Coss-Morales' relatives turned to the community for help with final expenses. A GoFundMe organized by Edgar Coss lists $9,035 raised toward a $10,000 goal to cover funeral and burial costs. The fundraiser description, written in Spanish, says the family is "living in a very difficult situation" following their son's death, according to GoFundMe.
Services and memorial plans
Funeral-home notices show visitation scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 8, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial on Monday, Feb. 9. A graveside service is planned at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Calumet City. Those arrangements are listed on obituary pages and the funeral home's online notices, per EchoVita.
Why these crashes are often deadly
Traffic-safety researchers have long warned that single-vehicle crashes involving fixed objects like trees account for a large share of roadway deaths and are often especially severe. That pattern, along with the outsized role young drivers play in fatal crashes, is highlighted in analyses from the National Academies and in federal data summarized by the Insurance Information Institute.
