Four people are dead after the stolen vehicle they were riding in careened into a Cleveland, Ohio, neighborhood, Cleveland.com reported. The crash happened early Wednesday morning, turning the 2014 Hyundai Sonata into an unrecognizable pile of rubble.
The driver of the sedan reportedly lost control and slammed into two trees and a parked vehicle. Police were still working to identify the people in the car long after the crash was cleared.
Mike Vielhaber, a journalist for WEWS, shared photos of the crash site to X, formerly Twitter, just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday. He captioned the post, "CFD did no cutting on this car. The roof and doors were stuck to a tree... Again 4 dead."
That should say CFD did no cutting on this car. The roof and doors were stuck to a tree and you can see the tow have to pull those pieces off the tree. They are behind the back half on the first tow that picked up the pieces. Again 4 dead. pic.twitter.com/JhRJIrqVUx
— Mike Vielhaber (@MVielhaber) March 12, 2025
Initial reports noted that the passengers, two males and two females, appeared to be teenagers. There were no personal belongings in the vehicle at the time of the crash.
The driver was found inside the car while the three other passengers were thrown from the vehicle on impact. The Medical Examiner’s Office later identified the victims as 14-year-old Tamera Davis, 14-year-old Kalise McGee, and 18-year-old Eddy Deandre Bonner, WJW-TV reported.
The last to be identified was 19-year-old Caurie Williams. It's unclear which of the teens was the driver at the time of the crash.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said the condition of the car indicates an extremely high rate of speed. "This is an absolute tragedy to have more young people killed in this type of tragic accident," Todd said.
The Hyundai was stolen on Feb. 27 and was not part of a police chase. Rather, WJW-TV indicates that the teens may have been racing the vehicle prior to the deadly crash.
These young people are dead because they made the decision to commit a crime, whether stealing a car or simply driving recklessly at high speeds. That doesn't mean they deserved to die, but it does mean that Cleveland's crime problem has victims on all sides.
Taking a joyride in stolen cars appears to be a popular pastime if an earlier report from WJW-TV is any indication. On Monday, three luxury vehicles were brazenly stolen from a local dealership and driven right through the window and a gate.
John Negus, owner of Larchmere Imports, said he's never seen anything like it in his 30 years in the business. "And, they went to where all the keys were stored," Negus said, incredulous.
"Pretty amazing when somebody blows the front of your building out with a car that you own. Hard to imagine that it could be worse," he added. There's no indication that the teens who died had any connection to this crime, but it speaks to a larger problem.
Teenagers are known to do things that are dangerous and destructive. However, moving away from stiff criminal penalties that deter crime and keep the peace has made lawbreaking irresistibly attractive.
