21-year-old dies in Cedar Rapids crash

CEDAR RAPIDS — A medical emergency might have caused a 21-year-old man to veer off Highway 30 on Friday evening, where he crashed and was killed, authorities said.

Cedar Rapids police and firefighters responded at 6:21 p.m. Friday to the area near Highway 30 and 21st Street SW to a report of a single-car crash.

They found a vehicle that had gone off the road and struck some railroad property below the bridge that spans railroad tracks and Prairie Creek.

First responders tried to revive the driver, identified by police as Nicholas Pearson, but he died at the scene.

“Preliminary indications suggest Pearson may have suffered a medical incident which led to losing control of the vehicle,” a city public safety spokesman reported.