A 15-year-old boy is dead after a juvenile on a joyride in a stolen SUV with four other children passengers crashed in Louisiana’s St Landry Parish just outside Opelousas.

The driver fled the scene on foot, and investigators are searching for him.

Louisiana State Police said they briefly pursued the Ford Explorer at about 2 a.m. Monday after spotting it speeding northbound on US 167. The driver refused to stop, and the trooper backed off the pursuit because of dangerous weather conditions and the high rate of speed.

A short time later, however, the trooper found the vehicle wrecked near state route 749. State police said the vehicle veered off the two-lane highway, hit a parked car, flipped over, and slammed into a utility pole.

Trashawn Harrison, 15, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead on the scene. The other three passengers were taken to a hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. Police said none of the four were wearing seatbelts.

After the crash, state police learned the SUV had been stolen in Abbeville, about 45 miles south of the crash site, hours earlier.

No other details were made available.

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