CANDO, ND : 6-year-old boy dies in two-car crash on May, Thursday 4th 2017

An unidentified 6-year-old boy was ejected from a vehicle and died Thursday, May 4, after the vehicle he was riding in with two other adults attempted to pass another car.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol reports the fatal crash happened at 3:33 p.m. just 3 miles north of Cando on U.S. Highway 281 in northeast North Dakota.

Cando is about 30 miles northwest of Devils Lake.

Sgt. Robert Kennedy said that both vehicles were traveling northbound on the highway. A 1999 Pontiac Mountaineer, driven by a 52-year-old man from St. John, N.D., with a 47-year-old woman also from St. John and the 6-year-old, was heading to a rural farmstead. A 44-year-old man from Devils Lake was driving a 2014 Toyota Prius with two juvenile passengers, ages 8 and 10, from Cando.Leading up to the crash, the Prius slowed down and the driver activated his turn signal to make a left hand turn onto 77th Street Northeast. The trailing Pontiac, however, overtook the intersection to pass and was struck by the Prius on the passenger side, Kennedy said. The Pontiac ended up in the east ditch and rolled over, and that's when the child was ejected from the vehicle.

Law requires any child under the age of 7 to be in a car seat or booster, but the 6-year-old was only wearing a seatbelt, Kennedy said. The child was ejected due to being improperly secured in the seat and was later declared dead at the Towner County Medical Center.

The other passenger and the driver of the Pontiac were airlifted to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks and their conditions are unknown at this time, Kennedy said.As for the driver and passengers of the Prius, no injuries were reported and they were all wearing seatbelts, including the 8-year-old who was properly secured in a car seat.

Kennedy said he would not comment on the relationship between the 6-year-old and others in the Pontiac at the time. More information on the crash and people involved is expected to be released Friday evening.

The crash remains under investigation by the Highway Patrol.

Responding to the scene were the Towner County Sheriff's Department, Cando Fire and Rescue and the Egeland Fire Department.

Source :
6-year-old boy dies in two-car crash in northeast ND