Police say they found alcohol inside a car following a crash that killed a 20-year-old passenger and injured four other teens in Cheltenham Township over the weekend.
On Sunday around 1:30 a.m., an 18-year-old was driving a 2006 Honda on Greenwood Avenue in Cheltenham Township. Four passengers, ages 17 through 19, were also inside the vehicle.
The Honda crossed a bridge and then went around a curve. It then left the right side of the roadway, sideswiped a guardrail and struck two side-by-side utility poles. The impact broke both poles in multiple parts.
The Honda came to a rest in the middle of Greenwood Avenue. Police said they found open containers of alcohol inside the vehicle.
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All five people inside the car were taken to area hospitals. One of the passengers, 20-year-old Nicholas Bednarek of Abington, was pronounced dead at Abington Memorial Hospital later that morning.
An autopsy revealed Bednarek died from multiple blunt impact injuries.
“This is every parent’s worst nightmare, and our hearts go out to Nicholas’s family and the other families. We pray for a full recovery of all of the young people,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said. “These crash investigations, especially one involving a death, take time, and we are in the early stages of the investigation.”
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The four other victims all suffered serious injuries. Police have not yet revealed their conditions.
