GRANITE CITY - A Southern Illinois high school senior who was to graduate Friday has died from injuries he suffered when he fell from the hood of a friend's moving car and smashed his head against the street in what was described by police as a kid's prank.

Kathy Holleman, spokeswoman from Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, said at 8:30 a.m. Thursday that the senior - Matthew Evans, 18 - had never regained consciousness.

Matthew Evans

Evans died at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to the St. Louis medical examiner, but the family members did not announced his death until Thursday.

Evans, 18, suffered the fatal injury about 10:25 p.m. Tuesday in front of his home in the 2400 block of Delmar Avenue, six blocks away from Granite City High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, played drums in the band and was on the debate and cross country teams.

Evans family was with him when he died in the intensive-care unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

Granite City Police Major Jeff Connor, assistant police chief, said Thursday that his department does not believe any crime was involved in Evans death.

"We have no reason to believe any violation of law was committed by the driver," Connor said. "This is nothing more than a tragic event. Our prayers go out to the Evans family."

Police did not release the name of the driver of the car that Evans jumped on.

On Wednesday evening, Granite City High School Principal Jim Greenwald opened an awards ceremony for seniors in the school cafeteria by noting that many students had been holding vigil at the hospital instead of attending the event. He asked people "to please pray for this outstanding young man."

Greenwald said the seniors will keep a chair open for Evans this morning during a graduation practice. The ceremony is to be held at 7 p.m. Friday on the school's football field.

A moving vehicle

Maj. Connor said Evans had been at an informal event with Honor Society friends at the high school earlier Tuesday evening and then was dropped off at his home. Connor said the driver, one of Evans' buddies, went around the block and returned. When he drove past Evans' home again, Evans jumped, or "belly flopped," onto the hood of the moving car.

"By instinct, the driver slammed on his brakes, and that caused Matt Evans to fly forward off the hood," Connor said. "He hit the street pavement with his head."

Evans' red Ford Taurus, parked in front of his home Wednesday, made clear that he was looking forward to graduating. Painted on the window were the words "Seniors rock," the date of graduation day and a countdown of the last 10 days of school. Seniors had their last classes Friday.

Friends said Evans was the only child of James and Shirley Evans. His aunt, Pat Evans, is an assistant principal at Granite City High, and Matthew Evans grew up attending Granite City schools.

Greenwald, the principal, said Evans had a 4.77 grade point average on a 5-point scale and was ranked 47th in a class of about 500 seniors. Greenwald called him a friendly, polite, well-liked student who had been active at the school.

He said Evans got into cross country "because of his tremendous determination. He wanted to get into better shape. He finished every race he ran."

Plans to attend Knox College

Forrest Feicho, a fellow senior and friend of Evans since the sixth grade, was among the students who spent much of Wednesday at Barnes-Jewish. Feicho said Evans had planned to attend Knox College in Galesburg, which had given him a scholarship, and eventually study law.

"He would debate anybody who took him on and Matt would always win," Feicho said of his friend. "He's pretty liberal and he would give me trouble for being a Republican. But he was always a really nice guy, an outstanding, honorable person."

Feicho said Evans always wanted to go to law school because his ultimate goal was to become president of the United States.

Greenwald said that when the faculty learned of Evans' injury, "Every teacher was upset because they know and love Matt so well. We are all just sick about this."

Keith Allen, 34, lives across the street from the Evans home. He was at home Tuesday night when he saw the emergency lights and saw paramedics trying to revive Evans. Allen said that he went outside to see what happened. Evans was unconscious and not breathing on his own.

Allen said he talked to one of Evans' buddies who was in the car. The buddy told Allen that when Evans jumped on the hood, the driver could see that Evans did not have a good grip to hold on the hood. When kids do the prank, they usually jump on the hood and hang onto the edges, or lip, of the hood.

"The driver saw his hands slipping off, so he just panicked and stopped real quick instead of slowing down," Allen said. "So, the car stopped too fast and that threw him off the car into the street."

Allen said that Evans was a nice teen, who took his education seriously.

"He was really a good kid," Allen said. "I'd always see him coming out of his house with a horn and a stack of books in his hands."