Bucks Co. Teenager Killed in Car Crash - Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

Bucks Co. Teenager Killed in Car Crash

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One person died and four others were injured in the weekend crash. One person died and four others were injured in the weekend crash.
Warminster Twp., PA -

A car crash in Bucks County claimed the life of a passenger who had just returned home to live, after spending the past few years with his father in Texas.  The driver was last reported in critical condition, and three other teens survived and have been released from the hospital.

19-year-old Cameron Smithwick was just around the corner from home Saturday afternoon, but he never made it.  His buddy lost control of their car on a narrow country road lined with trees.  Addison Smithwick, the victim's Sister, told Fox 29, "It went like down a hill, hit the ditch, like kind of on the side then popped the car up, made the car slide."  The car spun off the rain-slick road and flipped, severed a utility pole, then slammed into a tree, killing Smithwick instantly.  He had been in the front passenger seat, and wasn't wearing a seatbelt.  "The telephone pole went right into him... so it wouldn't have helped," Addison Smithwick explained through tears.  "But he didn't suffer, I know that."

Smithwick, his sister, and their friends had just finished lunch at a pizza parlor in Richboro.  Three boys in the back seat behind Smithwick, who all survived, told his sister he saved their lives.  "He cushioned the blow from the pole and also the tree, and if he wasn't there I don't know what would have happened to the rest of them," Addison Smithwick said.

The friends all know each other from Council Rock High School.  The driver, 18-year-old LJ Tanner, suffered severe injuries.  Police are investigating whether Tanner may have been speeding.  They did not find any containers of alcohol in the vehicle.  Even as Smithwick's family struggles with their loss, they pray Tanner's family will not know such pain.  "Everyone needs to put their prayers for LJ and his family," Addison Smithwick pleaded.  "And if everyone could pray for my mom in this time of grief, it would be amazing."

Cameron Smithwick had hoped to become a chef and open his own restaurant.  "He was a wonderful person, so generous and happy and full of life," his sister added.  "That's how I want everyone to remember him."

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