Woman, 20, killed in Bucks crash after 'Idol' auditions
A 20-year-old woman reportedly returning home from "American" Idol auditions in Philadelphia was killed Sunday when the SUV in which she was riding flipped over on I-95 in Bucks County, police said Monday.
A 20-year-old woman reportedly returning home from American Idol auditions in Philadelphia was killed Sunday when the SUV in which she was riding flipped over on I-95 in Bucks County, police said Monday.
Five other people in the 2003 Jeep Liberty also were injured, one seriously.
The fatality was identified at Natasha Bellott, of Bloomfield, N.J.
State police said the preliminary investigation found that the Jeep in which she was a passenger was northbound on the Interstate about 6:40 p.m. when it took to the shoulder to pass a vehicle in the right lane "at a high rate of speed."
The Jeep, with a 17-year-old girl behind the wheel, then crossed both northbound lanes and onto the grass median, where it flipped, police said.
Arriving officers found all six occupants scattered outside the vehicle. Investigators determined that three of them had been ejected during the crash.
A police officer at the scene told the Bucks County Courier Times that the group was returning from American Idol auditions at the Liacouras Center and that Bellott still had her ticket in her pocket.
Bellott was taken to St. Mary Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Leslie McCoy, 19, of Montclair, also was taken to St. Mary, where she was admitted with a head injury and fractured ribs, troopers said.
The four other people in the vehicle - the unidentified driver; a 16-year-old girl; Jacob Gorski, 18, of East Orange; and Carl DelPolito, 24, of Bloomfield - were taken to Capital Health Center in Trenton for treatment of what were described as non-life-threatening injuries.
The investigation is continuing and state police asked anyone who witnessed the crash to call the Trevose barracks at 215-942-3900.