Investigators say Stephanie Phillips, 19, of the 1600 block of 19th Street in Philadelphia, was arrested and charged for leaving the scene after hitting 17-year-old Denise Cotteta of Plymouth Meeting.
Cotteta was a student at Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School.
Investigators say Cotteta was struck around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 28th while trying to cross East Germantown Pike near Mayflower Road in Whitemarsh Township, near her school. Investigators say she was on her way home from her boyfriend's house.
The D.A. says Cotteta had been drinking that night, celebrating her school's recent boys' basketball championship. However, there was not enough alcohol in her system to impair her, the D.A. said.
Authorities said Cotteta walked in front of Phillips' car and was hit. Investigators say Phillips admitted to running over and killing Cotteta, but panicked and fled.
Police say, however, that if Phillips had stopped at the scene she may not have been charged at all.
"The driver was not the cause of that accident but, by failing to stop and failing to render aid and leaving the scene, those are the acts on her part that led to the criminal charges," said Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
Phillips did not have any drugs or alcohol in her system at the time of the accident, investigators said. Phillips was stopped by police just minutes after the accident.
She was also charged for driving with a suspended license.
A friend of Cotteta's was cited for providing the alcohol.
