Teen leaning out car window dies after striking a utility pole, Indiana police say

A 13-year-old girl died Saturday night after she hit a pole while leaning out of a moving car in Indiana, police say.

The teen was leaning out of the window of a car driven by her 18-year-old sister when it veered off the road and up a “steep incline” in Crown Point around 8 p.m., WBBM reported.

Police said the girl hit a utility pole and was “dragged and thrown from the car,” according to WLS.

She died of blunt force trauma, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported.

Police are investigating the incident to determine whether cell phone use could have played a part in the crash, according to WLS.

Officials were working to reconstruct the incident on Sunday, WBBM reported.

“The Lake County Sheriff’s Department Traffic Unit is conducting traffic reconstruction of this incident, and the investigation continues,” Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. said, according to the Times. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this extremely difficult time.”

Crown Point is in Indiana near the Illinois state line, about 50 miles south of Chicago.

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 11:05 AM with the headline "Teen leaning out car window dies after striking a utility pole, Indiana police say."