Pleasantville girl, 15, driver in Pa. crash that killed 3: D.A.
LAKE ARIEL, PA. – A 15-year-old Pleasantville girl is facing criminal charges after a breakfast run in a sleepy Pocono Mountain vacation community turned tragic, leaving three 15-year-old boys dead.
Authorities have not released the girl's name, but said she was driving a 2001 Chevrolet Suburban that overturned about 11:30 a.m. Saturday, killing three boys from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. A fourth Bucks County boy, also 15, and a 16-year-old girl from the Pleasantville area were passengers in the car. They, along with the driver, suffered minor injuries.
"This is a parent's worst nightmare and a terrible tragedy that the Pennsylvania State Police will investigate to the fullest," Wayne County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Janine Edwards said in a statement Tuesday.
Edwards said the Suburban was registered to the 15-year-old girl's father, who owns a home in the Wallenpaupack Lake Estates development, a private community in Lake Ariel.
It is believed the two Westchester girls drove to pick up the four boys and then went to a local restaurant for breakfast.
"Upon their return to the development, traveling around a left hand curve, the vehicle's right tire traveled off the roadway and the vehicle flipped over more than one time," Edwards said. "A witness near the scene stated to investigators that he saw the vehicle just before the accident occurred and believed it to be traveling at a high rate of speed."
Pennsylvania state police arrived to find one of the boys dead at the scene. The five others were taken to hospitals in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, where two of the boys died while receiving treatment, police said.
The three boys who died in the crash, all sophomores at Council Rock High School South, were 15-year-old Ryan Lesher, of Churchville, 15-year-old Shamus Digney, of Holland, and Cullen Keffer, whose age and hometown weren't released.
According to laws in both New York and Pennsylvania, the minimum age at which a driver can obtain a learner's permit is 16 years old. Additionally, both states require such drivers to travel with a licensed driver who is at least 18. Edwards said the 15-year-old will be criminally charged, but would not say what type of charges she would face.
"When criminal charges are filed, they will be done so pursuant to the Pennsylvania Juvenile Act and under said law, criminal juvenile matters are not disclosed to the public," Edwards said.
Reached by email Tuesday, the district attorney would not say whether the girl's parents would, in any way, be held criminally liable.
Lake Ariel is a quiet community in the Paupack Township that is dappled with small farms and private, wooded, fenced-in communities. It is located about 20 miles east of Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is a popular weekend destination for New Yorkers and others in the region.
According to its website, Wallenpaupack Lake Estates is home to both full- and part-time residents. The community website boasts about beaches, pools lakes, and playgrounds.
Bucks County, home to the teenage boys, is just northeast of Philadelphia. It is about 100 miles from Lake Ariel.
Council Rock High School South Principal Al Funk called the deaths a devastating loss to the community.
"They were three bright lights and three tremendous individuals that shared their gifts and talents with CR South," he said. "Those bright lights were extinguished way too soon."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.