A driver behind the wheel of her niece's car struck and killed a teenager along a busy South Jersey roadway overnight then fled the scene, said police.
The 40-year-old hit-and-run driver struck 16-year-old Pennsauken High School student Quason Turner in the southbound lanes after he jumped over the barricade along U.S. Route 130 at 49th Street in Pennsauken around 11:25 p.m. Monday, Pennsauken Police told NBC10's Cydney Long.
The force of impact in the right-hand lane caused Turner to land in the parking lot of a nearby Burger King where he died, said Pennsauken Police Sgt. Chris Sulzbach.
Sulzbach said Turner was visiting a friend on the other side of Route 130 and was headed home alone when the vehicle struck him. Police alerted Turner's family and his school of the boy's death.
Investigators found the car at 29th Street and Clinton Avenue in Camden after the 19-year-old Pennsylvania woman who owns the car called 911 to report the wreck but she hung up, said Sulzbach.
Police then used GPS tracking to figure out exactly where the alleged driver, identified as Susan Hyland, fled to. Hyland, unaware her niece had contacted authorities, tried to run out the back of the home but officers quickly caught up to her, said Sulzbach.
Inside the house, Hyland and others were discussing what to do with the damaged car, said police.
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Police said the car owner wasn't driving because she had driven in from the Harrisburg area and was tired from the drive.
Police charged Hyland, who hails from Beverly, New Jersey, with leaving the scene of a crime and driving on a suspended license. Police also took toxicology tests. Her niece -- who she hadn't seen in a long time prior to Monday night -- was not charged.
"She actually helped us in locating the driver of the vehicle," said Sulzbach.
Police asked anyone who might know more about what happened to call (856) 488-0080 ext. 2300.
