Madison County Coroner Stephen P. Nonn is reporting the identification of two juveniles who were killed in a traffic crash yesterday afternoon in Madison, Illinois: Kyrus D. Sykes, 16, of Granite City, and Marcus D. Gordon, 16, of Granite City.
An autopsy conducted earlier today by the Madison’s County Coroner’s Office revealed preliminary findings were that Kyrus Sykes died as a result of blunt chest trauma and Marcus Gordon died as a result of blunt head, chest and abdomen trauma. Routine toxicological studies will be performed.
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Funeral arrangements are pending.
The case remains under investigation.
Madison County Coroner’s Investigator Diondra Horner pronounced the driver of the van, Kyrus Sykes dead at the scene at 1:11 p.m. The front seat passenger, Marcus Gordon was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:10 p.m. Both decedents were trapped inside the van and had to be extricated with the assistance of both Madison and Fairmont City Fire Department personnel. A third passenger in the Honda, who is also a juvenile, was thrown out of the van and was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition.
A 2011 Honda Odyssey mini-van, reported as stolen from a residence in Fairview Heights, IL, was southbound on Route 203 at high speed when it collided with an oncoming pickup truck. The pickup driver had to be extricated from the wreckage before being taken to a hospital. The pickup truck drivers’ medical condition is unknown.
A Madison patrol officer had observed the Honda running stop signs near 12th and Alton streets in Madison. He was not behind the vehicle but rather conducting a parallel surveillance on an adjacent street. When the van turned southbound onto Illinois Route 203 at the bottom of the McCambridge Viaduct, the patrol officer activated his red lights and siren to maneuver through the oncoming traffic in an attempt to affect a traffic stop.
The suspect vehicle then accelerated and reached speeds estimated by police near 100 miles per hour. By the time the patrol car got to the top of the viaduct, the speeding van was already at Harrison Street, proceeding under a railroad overpass and a short distance later was involved in the crash. From the time of initiating red lights to the time of the crash is estimated at about 30 seconds and the distance travelled about one quarter of a mile.
A witness to the crash reported to police he was northbound on Route 203 and to the left of the pickup, when the Honda approached at high speed and swerved onto their side of the highway before colliding into the pickup.
At the request of the Madison Police Department, the Metro East Crash Assistance Team (MECAT) was called to the scene for crash reconstruction.
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