4 killed in Alabama car crash during pursuit by state trooper

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. 

They were driving in a 2022 Hyundai Elantra, CBS affiliate WTVY-TV reported. 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.

Authorities identified the driver as 27-year-old Tykevious D. Russaw, of Eufaula, and the passengers as 27-year-old Robert D. Hall and 24-year-old Quamay Richardson, of Clayton, according to CBS affiliate WAKA-TV. The teenage passenger was not identified.