A 17-year-old boy was burned alive in a horrifying crash that lit up Milwaukee’s Lincoln Park community Wednesday night. The teen was behind the wheel of a car that police say was involved in a felony case.
According to reports, the teen lost his life in the flames after fleeing from a traffic stop. Police noticed the vehicle was being driven recklessly on the road and attempted to pull it over. However, the driver ignored their signals to stop and led the police on a brief but tragic pursuit. Around 7:15 p.m., the vehicle crashed and burst into flames close to 19th Place and Hampton Avenue.
Footage from a passerby captured the deeply disturbing aftermath. In the video, the car is completely engulfed, with fire spreading to nearby trees and the pavement. Most hauntingly, the teen’s body lay outside the vehicle, on fire.
Officers rushed with extinguishers, attempting desperately to save him, but the flames overpowered their efforts. Moments later, police retreated from the fire, but the screams of the passerby, drawing attention to the young man’s silhouette struggling in the fire, made them resume their efforts to save him.
The crash scene was quickly sealed off as fire crews worked into the night. A report from 12 News citing resident Duncan Mason says that motorists often speed in the area. Mason expressed hope that authorities would take additional measures to control the speeding problem by adding speed bumps or more stoplights. Mason also added that while those will help with the issue of speeding, they won’t “stop a car chase. “More attention needs to be placed here,” he said.
The teen died at the scene, and firefighters confirmed two other people were hospitalised following the incident. The involvement of the two hospitalised individuals remains unclear, and police have not confirmed whether they were in another vehicle. The 17-year-old was identified as the only person inside the fleeing car, though his name has not been publicly released.
