17-Year-Old Driver Charged In Crash That Left 4 Teens Dead

HICKORY HILLS, IL — The 17-year-old driver of an SUV that crashed into a tree in Hickory Hills Saturday afternoon has been taken into custody while juvenile charges are pending, police said. Hickory Hills police and the Suburban Major Accident Reconstruction Team continue to piece together the single vehicle crash that left four teens dead.

Just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday, a 2008 Mercedes SUV was travelling east on 89th Street at an “extremely high rate of speed.”

“In what we believe to be an attempt to go airborne over the crest of the hill at 86th Avenue, the vehicle did go airborne, as described by a witness,” Hickory Hills Police Chief Charles Hobart said in a news release.

>>> 4 Dead, 2 Injured In Single Vehicle Crash In Hickory Hills

The driver lost control of the vehicle when it veered off the roadway, police said. The SUV struck a large tree of north side 89th Street, which split in half. The six people in the SUV were all from Justice. Two teens were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

“They were great kids. All four of them,” Jocelyn Gonzales, a neighbor, told WGN.

Another neighbor, Joanna Proszak, called 911 when she heard “a really loud bad boom.”

“I told them there was bodies on the ground,” Proszak told WGN. “I saw two bodies.”

The Cook County Medical Examiner identified the deceased teens as Nathaniel Phillips, 17, Destiny M. Giera, 16, Omarion Rieves, 17, and his 15-year-old brother Jemerrio X. Rieves. The medical examiner determined that the teens died from multiple blunt force injuries as the result of a traffic accident.

Two other people in the vehicle, including the 17-year-old driver, were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

The 17-year-old driver of the vehicle was taken into custody upon release from the hospital and has been petitioned to the Juvenile Court of Cook County on charges of reckless homicide along with traffic citations. The driver’s name is not being released due to being a minor.

“The Hickory Hills Police Department extends our deepest condolences to the families involved,” Hobart said.