A woman may have been huffing an aerosol can and smoking pot before she lost control of her car, killing a woman outside Delaware County Hospital last month, according to investigators.
Blood work shows Rachel Jankins was under the influence of marijuana and huffing Dust-Off cleaner , according to Upper Darby police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
Jankins, 20, was playing with her iPod on Aug. 14 when the Havertown woman's car crossed into oncoming traffic on Lansdowne Avenue, went up onto the sidewalk and slammed into Nicole Gallo and Christine Bochanski. Gallo, 19, was killed and Bochanski, 20, was hospitalized.
“She claims she was fooling with an iPod in her car when she lost control of the vehicle and the next thing she knew the air bags were in her face. She never remembers hitting the woman or seeing the woman,” Chitwood said on the day of the accident.
Jankins ended up with minor injuries from being trapped in her car. Accident investigators said there were no skid marks or evidence that she ever stepped on the brakes.
Jankins could face charges of homicide by vehicle or DUI-related manslaughter, but that decision will come from county prosecutors.
Gallo's alma mater, Archbishop Prendergast High School, has set up a Scholarship Fund in her honor.
