Boy, 4, killed by colliding police cruisers in Allentown

ALLENTOWN - Two marked police cruisers responding to a call crashed last night, then careened into pedestrians and killed a 4-year-old boy, police said.

Daviay Lagrand, 4, was walking with his mother when he was killed, the boy's great-grandmother, Ruby Peoples, and great-aunt, Cheryl Burton, told the Morning Call of Allentown.

Allentown Police Chief Roger MacLean told the newspaper that officers had been responding to a report of a man with a gun.

The cruisers collided at Seventh and Chew streets, and one spun onto the curb and into pedestrians. The child was killed and an adult male was injured, but not critically, Lt. Daryl Hendricks told the Express-Times of Easton.

"First you heard the sirens, then you heard the tires screech, then you heard the bang," Crystal Spearman, who said she witnessed the accident, told the Morning Call.

The incident triggered anger among onlookers, some of whom threw bottles and rocks at police, Hendricks said.

MacLean did not identify the officers involved. He said state police were called to investigate .

Hendricks said Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin also was involved in the probe.