A guy who did not want to pay his bus fare and was removed by East St. Louis Police Wednesday morning decided to steal one of their cruisers, sped off and caused a three-car fatal crash 10 blocks away.

“Officers realized he was taking the car and tried to catch up to him but a short time later he was involved in the three-car crash that led to the fatality,” Assistant Police Chief Ronald O. Ike said.

The woman killed had not been identified, Ike said. Her 2001 Mercury’s registration came back to a Belleville address.

A Bible and three copies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ publication The Watchtower were in the street near her car.

The crash was about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at 70th and State streets in East St. Louis. It involved the East St. Louis Police car, the white 2001 Mercury Sable and a white Honda Civic with North Carolina plates.

The woman in the Mercury was killed and her remains could not be removed until 11:06 a.m., when firefighters pulled off the car’s roof and two doors. The middle-aged man driving the Civic was taken to St. Louis University hospital.

The person in the stolen police car was hurt but the injuries did not appear to be life threatening, emergency workers said.

It all started 10 blocks away when the man refused to pay his bus fare at 80th and State streets.

Mike Stevens was at the Mobil station near 80th and State and saw four or five officers with the bus stopped.

“They brought the dude off the bus, hands in front of him crossed. He walked towards the police car,” Stevens said. “One officer turned his back like he was about to get something off the bus. The dude broke and hopped in the car and took off.

“Stevens said the police car had been sitting there running with the lights on.

The police cruiser appeared to have hit the Mercury head-on and was smoking and had to be extinguished when firefighters arrived. The Honda wound up off the road and in some weeds.

The crash scene included 20 police cruisers, including some from neighboring communities. Debris from the crash littered the road.

State Street remained closed to traffic at 11:15 p.m.

Phyllis Lewis-Oliver was upstairs on her computer at 6914 State St. She said she heard a loud boom.

“It sounded like a bomb. My husband thought the furnace was blowing up,” she said.

She said she ran downstairs and saw the Honda on the side of her house and the police car sitting there. She said the Mercury was smashed and next to a utility pole.

“I knew whoever was in there was not coming out.”