Teen dies following police pursuit in Hammond

A 13-year-old girl is dead Wednesday evening after a suspect car involved in a police chase struck the vehicle she was traveling in.

Indiana State Police report that East Chicago Police were chasing a 2010 Dodge Durango that had entered Hammond. 

The Durango traveling eastbound, sped through the intersection of Gostlin Street and Columbia Avenue where it struck the driver’s side of a Chevy Equinox traveling northbound. 

Troopers say the crash sent the Equinox through a fence and into a grassy area near the parking lot of Lang Ice Service. 

The driver of the Equinox, 57-year-old Theresa Paramo of Whiting, was flown to Christ Hospital in Illinois with critical injuries. 

According to troopers, the passenger of the Chevy was the 13-year-old girl and Paramo’s granddaughter, Julianna Chambers.  

Chambers was pronounced dead from her injuries at Saint Margaret’s Hospital in Hammond. 

The driver of the Durango, 31-year-old Donnell Howard Jr. of Highland, Indiana, was taken into custody by East Chicago Police.