ALTON, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com)—
A chain reaction accident in Alton, Illinois, sent a high school student to the hospital and injured two others. It happened just yards from Alton High School, minutes after the final bell rang. The crash involved a stationary van, waiting to turn, and two other vehicles that smashed into each other, then careened into the van.It was almost like one of those staged accidents students are getting used to these days, but the red pickup truck on it's side across the street from Alton High School was all too real.
"It happened so suddenly, it was scary," says Freshman Jake Kirby as he walked home and saw a bloody scene of mangled metal.
One of his schoolmates, a 17 year old, was apparently clipped by another car driven by a student, causing the red pickup to roll onto its side and into a van waiting to turn onto Humbert Road.
The teen injured suffered severe head trauma and was flown to St. Louis for treatment.
Crash investigators say had he been wearing a seatbelt, this could have ended much differently.
