A LaSalle teen was pronounced dead Monday night after his body and a vehicle were recovered from a sand- and water-filled quarry in Ottawa.
LaSalle County Sheriff Tom Stapleton said witnesses reported seeing a car speeding west on Main Street and crossing Boyce Memorial Drive before hitting a curb, traveling over a grassy area, crashing through a security fence and up an embankment before plunging into the quarry.
Fire and rescue crews called to the scene recovered a 2008 Chevy sedan out of the 70-foot quarry at about 10:45 p.m. The body of 17-year-old Zachary Behrens was found later.
An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to determine a cause of death. It was immediately unclear whether Behrens was killed in the crash or if he had some sort of medical emergency that caused him to lose control of the vehicle.
Ottawa is in LaSalle County, about 50 miles west of Joliet.
