St. Louis county, MO — May 18, 2025, Three people were killed and one was injured in a car accident at around 10:50 P.M. on Lewis and Clark Blvd.

An investigation is underway following a car accident that left three people dead and injured another during the evening hours of May 18th. According to official reports, a Chevy Caprice was traveling on Lewis and Clark Boulevard in the southbound lanes near Comet Drive, when for unknown reasons the vehicle crossed the dividing line where it collided with Nissan Altima head-on.

When first responders arrived on the scene, they found that the driver of the Chevy, a 25-year-old man, and the driver and a passenger of the Nissan, a 20 and 21-year-old women respectively, had sustained fatal injuries and were pronounced deceased. In addition, a 12-year-old female passenger of the Chevy sustained injuries and they were transported to the hospital for treatment. At this time there has been no further information released from the accident, including the identities of the deceased or the status of the juvenile's injuries, however this remains an ongoing investigation and more details may be released by authorities in the future.

Commentary by Attorney Michael Grossman

After a crash like this, with multiple lives lost and a child seriously hurt, the need for answers is not just important—it’s urgent. A vehicle crossing the center line and causing a head-on collision is a devastating scenario, but from my experience, these crashes rarely have just one simple cause. To truly understand how something like this could happen on Lewis and Clark Boulevard, we have to ask the critical questions that often go unspoken in the initial reports.

First, did the authorities thoroughly investigate the crash?
A head-on collision means one vehicle veered from its lane into oncoming traffic, but what caused that sudden deviation? Was the road curved, uneven, or poorly lit? Was the dividing line clearly marked and maintained? Was there debris or an obstacle that forced the Chevy Caprice driver to react suddenly? Investigators must examine not just where the crash occurred, but the entire path that led up to it—including environmental conditions, traffic flow, and visibility. Any oversight here could leave important pieces of the puzzle out of view.

Second, has anyone looked into the possibility that a vehicle defect caused the crash?
A sudden swerve across the center line may suggest more than just human error. Did the Caprice suffer a mechanical failure—such as brake failure, a steering issue, or a tire blowout—that caused the driver to lose control? And what about the crashworthiness of both vehicles involved? Did the seatbelts and airbags deploy as intended, and did either vehicle have prior recalls that could be relevant? These questions demand thorough vehicle inspections. Without them, a hidden defect could be missed, along with the opportunity to prevent future harm to others driving similar vehicles.

Third, has all the electronic data relating to the crash been collected?
Both the Caprice and the Altima are likely to have event data recorders that store crucial information from the seconds leading up to the crash. This includes speed, braking, throttle input, and steering activity. It can also show whether safety features—like stability control or advanced driver-assist systems—were active. In a head-on collision, this data can help reconstruct exactly how the crash unfolded and whether either driver had a chance to react. But this data is fragile—it must be collected quickly, or it could be permanently lost.

When accidents like this occur, it’s not enough to say a car crossed the line. We owe it to the victims and their families to dig deep and uncover every factor that led to such a catastrophic outcome. That’s the only way to truly understand what went wrong—and to take steps toward making sure it doesn’t happen again.

Key Takeaways:

• Road conditions, visibility, and lane markings on Lewis and Clark Boulevard should be carefully reviewed to understand why the Chevy veered off course.
• Mechanical inspections are needed to rule out brake, tire, or steering failures that could have caused the vehicle to cross the center line.
• Event data from both vehicles can provide a timeline of speed, braking, and steering input and must be preserved quickly before it’s lost.