A man was killed in a car crash after leading Kewanee Police on several high-speed chases on Tuesday evening.
The incident began around 8:45 p.m. on Sept. 30, when officers responded to a request to check the welfare of a male driver in the 800 block of Northeast Street. After locating the vehicle and attempting a traffic stop, the driver refused to comply and fled eastbound on Kentville Road at high speed. An officer pursued for approximately 42 seconds before terminating the chase near Cole Street and Railroad Avenue.
The same vehicle reappeared in Kewanee around 9:44 p.m., prompting a second attempt to stop it. The driver again accelerated rapidly, leading to a two-and-a-half-minute pursuit that ended when officers lost sight of the vehicle. Roughly three minutes later, at 9:46 p.m., a call reported the vehicle had crashed into a viaduct on Northeast Street.
Responding officers from the Kewanee Police Department, along with the Kewanee Fire Department, Henry County Sheriff’s Office, and Henry County Coroner’s Office, arrived to find the driver—the sole occupant—deceased at the scene, as pronounced by the coroner’s office.
The crash remains under investigation by the Kewanee Police Department in conjunction with the Henry County Coroner’s Office. No further details about the driver or the vehicle have been released pending the ongoing inquiry.
