4 dead in Alabama car crash during pursuit by state trooper

TROY, Ala. (AP) — Four people died when a car that was being pursued by an Alabama state trooper went off the road and hit a tree, authorities said Sunday.

The driver was trying to elude the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s highway patrol on a rural road in southeast Alabama’s Pike County when the crash occurred late Friday night, ALEA spokeswoman Amanda Wasden said in an email. No other vehicles were involved.

Wasden said the crash was under investigation, and no additional information was available. Her email did not say what prompted the pursuit.

The driver and two passengers, one of them a 17-year-old, were not wearing seat belts and were thrown from the sedan. The third passenger was not ejected, but all four were pronounced dead at the scene.