Teenage girl killed when chase ends in crash, South Carolina coroner says
A South Carolina teenager died Sunday after the motorcycle she was driving while leading law enforcement officers on a chase crashed, according to the Oconee County Coroner’s Office.
Olivia Morgan Sanchez, a 16-year-old Gray Court resident, is the motorcycle rider who died in what Coroner Karl Addis called an accident.
The collision happened late Saturday night, the coroner’s office said Monday in a news release.
At about 11:20 p.m. Saturday, Oconee County Sheriff’s Office deputies tried to pull over the motorcycle Sanchez was driving on Clemson Boulevard, according to the release.
A deputy saw the motorcycle, which didn’t have a tag, speeding and driving recklessly, the sheriff’s office said. Sanchez swerved toward a truck and drove through the median while passing cars in oncoming lanes while speeding faster than 100 mph, according to the sheriff’s office.
Minutes later, the motorcycle crashed on Sheep Farm Road, near the intersection with Brook Lane in Seneca, the coroner’s office said. The 2005 Kawasaki motorcycle was driving west on Sheep Farm Road when it ran off the right side of the road and hit an embankment then crashed into a tree, said Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway of the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
“No deputies were involved in the accident,” the sheriff’s office said.
Sanchez, who was the only person on the motorcycle, was treated at the scene by EMS, before she was airlifted to the emergency department at Prisma Oconee Memorial hospital, according to the release. Sanchez was then transferred to Prisma Greenville Memorial hospital, where she died at about 7:10 p.m. Sunday from blunt force trauma she suffered in the wreck, the coroner’s office said.
No other injuries were reported.
Sanchez, a Laurens High School student, was wearing a helmet, according to the release.
Information about why Sanchez disregarded the traffic stop was not available.
The crash is being investigated by the Highway Patrol. The sheriff’s office said it’s conducting a “standard” internal review following the wreck.
Through Oct. 4, at least 687 people had died on South Carolina roads in 2025, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Last year, at least 948 people died in crashes in South Carolina, DPS reported.
At least 14 people have died in Oconee County crashes in 2025, according to DPS data. There were 15 deaths in the county in 2024, DPS reported.
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This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Teenage girl killed when chase ends in crash, South Carolina coroner says."
