Driver charged with DWI in fatal crash

A Philadelphia woman has been charged with driving while intoxicated following a Sunday crash that killed her daughter's friend, state police said yesterday.

Sheila McCrea, 47, was driving back from a family reunion in Atlantic City when she lost control at 2:42 p.m. and swerved into a guardrail along the Atlantic City Expressway near Pleasantville, Sgt. Stephen Jones of the state police said.

The maroon Buick sedan flipped over, trapping McCrea and Gail Winkfield, an 18-year-old from the Olney section of Philadelphia, Jones said. Winkfield died at the scene.

Jones said no other charges had been filed against McCrea, who remains in AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center with a concussion and abdominal and arm injuries. Further charges could be filed by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, which is aiding in the investigation.

McCrea's 19-year-old daughter, Jaleesa Jeffers, described Winkfield as her best friend. The two had been anticipating Jeffers' family-reunion trip for about a month and saved up money to split a room at the Atlantic Palace hotel.

Exhausted from a weekend spent walking the Boardwalk, Jeffers said she had fallen asleep on the ride home and awoke to screeching tires. Jeffers was in the front seat, with Winkfield behind her.

"I just remember us hitting the guardrail and flipping over," said Jeffers, who suffered a broken ankle.

Jeffers said she had been with Winkfield all weekend and saw her mother, who she said seemed normal, only as they piled into the car Sunday.

Savannah Williams, Winkfield's mother, said McCrea was someone she trusted.

"I spoke to [McCrea] before she left on Friday and she assured me that nothing was going to happen" to her daughter, Williams said.

Two other passengers in the car, Tyheera Handy, 7, and Lyric Washington, 11 - whom Jeffers identified as her cousins - were taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center after the crash.

Washington underwent surgery for a ruptured spleen Sunday night, and Handy was transferred to Cooper University Hospital for evaluation related to a lung injury, Jones said.

Police said nobody was wearing a seat belt.

Williams said her daughter had graduated in June from Franklin Learning Center High School in Center City and planned to study psychology at Community College of Philadelphia in the fall. She hoped to transfer to Drexel University eventually.

"She was loving, she was kind, and she was a strong person," Williams said.