UPDATED at 6:30 p.m. with charges filed.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A man was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and resisting arrest in connection with a car crash that killed a 15-year-old girl in the Sappington area of South County.
The car’s driver, 18-year-old Christopher Dedios, had been fleeing from an officer attempting a traffic stop, said Sgt. Tracy Panus of the St. Louis County police.
Christopher Dedios
The girl who died, Alexi Hawkins, was a passenger in Dedios’ speeding car that struck a utility pole about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Gravois Road and Winternight Lane, authorities said.
Alexi died at the scene. She lived in the 1700 block of Telegraph Road in unincorporated St. Louis County.
St. Louis County prosecutors charged Dedios with second-degree murder (flight from perpetration of a felony, a person dies) and resisting arrest by fleeing. Dedios lives in the 9900 block of Meadow Avenue in unincorporated St. Louis County.
His bail is set at $200,000 cash. Dedios had no attorney listed in court records late Wednesday.
Before the crash, an officer had spotted the 2002 Saturn SL swerving and with people hanging out of the windows, Panus said. The officer, in a marked patrol car, activated the lights and siren in an attempt to get the car to stop, Panus said.