A speeding driver approaching Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway crashed early Friday, leaving one of the four people in the vehicle dead, Philadelphia police said.
The Volkswagen Jetta was going westbound on Vine Street approaching the parkway around 4:20 a.m. when the driver swerved to avoid cones set up in the outer lanes of the parkway, Philadelphia police accident investigators said.
The Jetta then crossed the parkway and struck the center median before going across the inner lanes and striking a tree and pole between 20th and 21st streets, not far from Logan Circle and the Franklin Institute.
A 20-year-old man in the car died a short time later at the hospital. A woman in the car was treated for neck, back and arm pain. Two other women in the car weren't seriously injured but were hysterical after the crash, police said.
The wreckage of a deadly crash slowed traffic along the busy Benjamin Franklin Parkway during the Friday morning commute.
Witnesses said it appeared three cars were racing down the street when the one car appeared to crash Philadelphia police initially said.
On Friday afternoon, police said it appeared the people in cars were acquainted with each other and that traditional street racing didn't appear to be the case.
Transportation and Transit
Police didn't immediately know who was driving the car and if the driver was intoxicated.
The exact cause of the crash is under investigation.
