Police say all 3 occupants were wearing their seatbelts and speeding did not appear to be a factor, but somehow, the driver, 17-year-old senior Jessica Atkin spun out of control hitting a tree.
16-year-old Alex Smolner, who just moved here from Miami, Florida, last week, was killed.
"She just started today at South, her junior year, she didn't know anyone," sophomore Jess Crandall said.
Crandall tells Action News he first met the victim this morning at the start of the first day of school at Central Bucks South.
"When she got here, I walked her in the school and she says she's happy to have friends to walk in with her," Crandall said.
Then, after seeing Smolner this morning, they went their separate ways until after school when he met up with her and his friend Max and Jessica Atkin.
"They offered me a ride back to my house because Max lives right near me," Crandall said.
But instead, Crandall says, and he doesn't know why, he decided to take the bus home instead. As he thinks back, he gets a chill.
"I don't know, I'm like thinking, 'What if I did go in the car, things would have been different,' obviously," Crandall said.
Both his friend Max and Jessica Atkin were taken to Abington Hospital where tonight Max was treated and released and is back home with a sore back.
While police continue to investigate the accident, students created a memorial page for Alex Smolner on Facebook. Some students spoke of how they barely knew her, but already liked her and many were sending thoughts and prayers to her family.
For Crandall, the events of Wednesday are beyond belief.
"I don't know, there are so many things going through my mind right now," Crandall said.
Students say they will be memorializing Alex Smolner by wearing black to school Thursday and bringing flowers in her memory. School officials also tell Action News, grief counselors will be on hand at the school from throughout the district.
