Police: Vehicle swerved before crash that killed Penn State student
The vehicle in the crash that killed one Pennsylvania State University student and injured six others Sunday swerved before it overturned, state police said Monday.
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The vehicle in the crash that killed one Pennsylvania State University student and injured six others Sunday swerved before it overturned, state police said Monday.
The sport utility vehicle carrying the students home from a fund-raising trip was traveling west on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Charlestown Township, Chester County, when it swerved from the right lane onto the shoulder around 1:50 p.m. Sunday, police said.
The 2004 Envoy then abruptly turned back onto the road. Then it swerved to the right again and overturned, police said.
The car hit the guide rail and landed upright facing forward on the shoulder.
As the car flipped, passenger Vitalya "Tally" Sepot, a 19-year-old sophomore from Branford, Conn., was ejected. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
State police continue to investigate the cause of the crash.
The other students suffered non-life-threatening injuries. They were discharged from Paoli Hospital on Sunday night, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.
Police identified the injured students as Max Titlebaum, 20, of Merion; Victoria Barrett, 18, of Gibsonia, Pa; Sarah Bixby, 18, of Flemington, N.J.; Claire Fountas, 18, of Barrington, Ill.; Mathew Hrynkow, 20, of Annandale, Va.; and Brooke Kalodner, 18, of Voorhees.
The group of students in the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity were returning from their first week "canning" for donations in the Philadelphia area for Thon, a student-run philanthropy that raises money and awareness for the fight against childhood cancer.
Katie Mailey, Thon 2016's executive director, released a statement Sunday evening saying that the hearts of the Thon community were with the injured students' families and with Sepot.
"We will do all that we can to honor her memory and dedication to Thon," she said.
An Alpha Chi Omega alumni group has set up a GoFundMe.com page to aid the Sepot family: https://www.gofundme.com/fx556a9c.
610-313-8207 @MichaelleBond