New Jersey

SUV Flips Several Times After Teen Driver Loses Control, Kills Passenger: Police

An 18-year-old New Jersey woman died after being ejected from an SUV that flipped over multiple times after the driver lost control and ended up in someone's yard, authorities said. 

Stephanie Morgan, of Emerson, died early Thursday, less than five hours after the Wednesday night accident near Hasbrouck Avenue and Chestnut Street in her hometown. 

Authorities say the 17-year-old driver lost control of the car as she was going north on Hasbrouck Avenue and the vehicle continued along the road, moving sideways, before it went off the street, flipped over, and kept flipping over until stopping in the yard.

Morgan was riding in the front passenger seat at the time of the accident; she was thrown out of the car the first time it flipped, when it left the roadway.

Neighbor Dorothy Macaluso, an ICU nurse, raced to help after she heard a "screeching sound and a large crash," but said she could tell Morgan would not make it. 

"My wish is for the family to know that she was not alone, she was comforted the best I could do," she said. "We tried to stabilize her to give her some time for her family to be notified, to at least see her alive." 

The 17-year-old driver and a 15-year-old boy who had been in the back seat of the Nissan Pathfinder managed to pull themselves out of the vehicle, which came to rest in someone's yard. They were both taken to hospitals to be evaluated and are expected to be OK.

The crash scene turned into a memorial Thursday for Morgan, who was just about to graduate from Emerson Junior Senior High School. Teddy bears and flowers lined a stretch of Hasbrouck Avenue. 

No charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing.

-- Checkey Beckford contributed to this report 

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