Driver Steve Bourgoin kills five teens in car crash before trying to escape in police car

Crash: Bourgoin was driving down the wrong side of the road
WCAX-TV
Jamie Micklethwaite11 October 2016

A driver travelling down the wrong side of the road has killed five teenagers after smashing into the front of their car.

Steve Bourgoin, 36, was allegedly driving on the wrong side of Interstate 89 near Williston, Vermont, when he struck a Volkswagen Jetta on Saturday night.

Vermont teenagers Eli Brookens, Mary Harris and Cyrus Zschau, all 16, were killed by the impact, along with 15-year-olds Lim Hale and Janie Cozzi.

The crash caused the Volkswagen to erupt into flames, flinging bits of debris all over the road.

Fire: The Volkswagen burst into flames 
WCAX-TV

As an officer tried to save the life of one of the victims, Bourgoin stole his patrol car and attempted to flee the scene.

After attempting to escape, he is said to have crashed into eight vehicles and was ejected from the car.

Five people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries as a result of the other crash.

Tributes were paid to the tragic victims
Wilson Ring/AP

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin told CNN: "The loss of five young Vermonters in such a senseless tragedy is heartbreaking.

"Vermont is a community, and today we share the sadness and the loss of the families and friends of these teens."

Bourgoin is currently in a critical condition in the University of Vermont Medical Centre.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in