‘Every parent’s worst nightmare’: New Jersey teen dies two weeks after harrowing crash with speeding driver
A New Jersey teenage girl critically injured in a January crash while out getting frozen yogurt died this week, officials said.
Gianna Nicole Palmieri, 16, was in a Toyota with her friend, Kaitlyn Edwards, on Jan. 30 when a Hyundai in the opposite lane crashed into their car in Little Egg Harbor Township, according to prosecutors and several GoFundMe pages.
The two teens were airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Palmieri succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday — days before her 17th birthday, said Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer.
As a result of her death, prosecutors on Tuesday upgraded charges against Hyundai driver Michael Pillarella to aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide.
“This is every parent’s worst nightmare. The (Toyota) driver should have been celebrating her birthday last weekend, instead she was fighting for her life in the hospital,” said Billhimer in a statement.
“The passenger that passed away this (Tuesday) evening should have been celebrating her birthday this upcoming weekend … this is such an unspeakable tragedy.”
Pillarella, 26, of Manahawkin, N.J., was going 74 miles per hour down Radio Road when he hit a turn near Baltusrol Court and crossed into the opposite lane into the Toyota’s path, prosecutors said.
The Toyota driver Kaitlyn Edwards was still in the hospital in critical condition Thursday.
“She was just out with a friend getting frozen yogurt and just like that her night turned around,” said a GoFundMe page raising money for her medical bills.
