A 15-year-old girl was killed recently in a three-car crash on the Garden State Parkway.
The teen was a resident of New Milford, Pennsylvania. She was riding in the rear passenger seat of a Hyundai Santa Fe that was parked on the northbound shoulder of the road.
At around 5 p.m. – still during daylight hours – a Ford Explorer veered onto the shoulder and crashed into the Hyundai.
The Explorer then continued forward and hit the back of a Honda CR-V that was parked.
Officials pronounced the teenager dead at the scene of the crash.
Also injured were the front passenger from the Hyundai and the driver of the Explorer. Both suffered serious injuries and were taken to the Jersey Shore University Medical Center.
The drivers of the Hyundai and the Honda were not injured. They were not in their cars at the time of the crash. It is unclear why the two cars were parked off to the side.
According to news reports, the teenager and her family were returning from a beach vacation in New Jersey to kick off the summer.
She was a student in the Blue Ridge School District, and the superintendent said she had just concluded her freshman year of high school. He called her a “really just kind of bright, enthusiastic, just a positive personality around the school district.”
The girl and her family should have come back from their week at the beach with special memories to last forever. Instead, her family had to return from vacation to the reality that their beloved teenager wouldn’t be with them again.
Potential charges against the driver of the Explorer had yet to be announced, and it is certain the girl’s family will watch the investigation with interest. A personal injury attorney can let them know what to expect as the investigation proceeds as well as what their legal options are as they recover.
