8-month-old killed in wrong-way crash in the Metro East

By Russell Kinsaul

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    EAST ST. LOUIS (KMOV) — Detectives with the Illinois State Police (ISP) are investigating a fatal head-on collision caused by a wrong-way driver. The accident happened Saturday morning around 6:30 a.m. on the entrance ramp to southbound I-255 at State Street in East St. Louis.

A mother and father were injured and rushed to Saint Louis University Hospital. Their 8-month-old son was taken to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital but was later pronounced dead.

The mother spoke with News 4 in her hospital room but asked that we not reveal her identity. She said she suffered a broken femur and her husband suffered brain damage. She said she’s devastated by the death of her 8-month-old son, Marquiest.

“I want to know who did this to my baby. Who killed my baby,” she said.

According to the ISP, deputies with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office saw a car that matched the description of a vehicle involved in a reported home invasion in Belleville. The deputies attempted to make a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled on I-255 going northbound in the southbound lanes, according to the ISP.

The mother said that her husband saw the car going the wrong way as they were driving up the highway entrance ramp. She said he tried to avoid the wrong-way car, but it steered toward them and the vehicles collided.

She said she remembers being on the ground outside the vehicle and someone telling her not to move.

“I wasn’t on the ground long and after that, I woke up in the hospital,” she said.

Investigators say law enforcement officers detained 3 adults in the wrong-way car but they were later released. The mother said she wants justice for her 8-month-old son.

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