Chesterton Police have identified the 17-year-old Jackson Township boy who died early Wednesday morning in a crash on South Park Drive as Devin M. Defauw.

According to the initial accident report, at approximately 2:29 a.m. Defauw, of 333 Mount Jackson, was southbound at a high rate of speed on South Park, south of Porter Ave., when he failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway, left South Park to the west, and struck a tree immediately south of the intersection where the looping South Park curves into itself.

Det. Lt. Dave Cincoski of the CPD told the Chesterton Tribune on Wednesday that Defauw was pronounced dead at the scene. Defauw was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash but the air bags on the 1995 Cadillac Deville did deploy, the initial report said.

A spokesperson for Porter County Coroner Roger Kleist said today the cause of death has been determined to be traumatic asphyxiation with internal injuries due to blunt force trauma. The results of routine toxicology screen are pending, she added.

Posted 9/28/2006