A juvenile driver is dead and four other people were injured after their car left the road and slammed into a tree at Gas City Park just before 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Emergency crews descended on the park in the pre-dawn darkness to find a 2021 Hyundai Elantra with five people inside, four of them juveniles.
According to the Indiana State Police, the Elantra was heading southbound on a road near Duck Walk Run when it drove off the roadway and struck a tree. The juvenile driver was pronounced dead at the scene by the Grant County Coroner’s Office, while four additional occupants, three of them juveniles, were also in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Of those four passengers, two were airlifted from the scene to area hospitals and two others were transported by ambulance to local hospitals, per the same account. The severity of their injuries has not been detailed. As reported by WISH-TV, the vehicle was a 2021 Hyundai Elantra traveling south near Duck Walk Run before it left the road.
A Coordinated Emergency Response
Indiana State Police troopers were assisted at the scene by a wide swath of local agencies, including the Grant County Sheriff’s Office, Gas City Police Department, Grant County Coroner’s Office, Gas City Fire Department, Grant County EMS, and Marion General EMS, the state police account notes. The crash remains under investigation by the Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Team, which was still working to determine why the car left the roadway.
Investigators say speed is considered to be a contributing factor in the crash, though the exact cause has not been finalized. As WIBC reported, police say speed may have played a role, but they are still investigating what caused the car to leave the road in the first place.
School Postpones Homecoming After Loss
Mississinewa Community Schools confirmed that the juvenile killed in the crash was one of its students. FOX59 reported the juvenile fatality. In response, the school district postponed its homecoming dance following the student’s death, underscoring how deeply the overnight tragedy rippled through the local community.
The Grant County Coroner’s Office has not yet released the identity of the deceased driver. The coroner’s office is expected to release the driver’s identity at a later time, according to WRTV. The names, ages, and conditions of the four injured occupants have not been made public.
The crash remains an active investigation, with the Indiana State Police Crash Reconstruction Team continuing to evaluate the scene near Duck Walk Run. No further details about what preceded the vehicle leaving the roadway have been released.
