A passenger killed in a crash Thursday afternoon near Palmer Park Mall has been identified as a 56-year-old woman from Phillipsburg.
Krishna Devi was pronounced dead at the scene following the single-vehicle accident around 3 p.m. on Park Avenue between Hackett and Gruver avenues, near the mall, said police and Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek. The cause of death was from multiple blunt forced injuries and it was ruled accidental, Lysek said.
Devi was a rear seat passenger who was partially entrapped inside the vehicle and had to be rescued by fire personnel, Palmer Township Deputy Fire Chief Jim Alercia told lehighvalleylive.com Sunday.
Alercia, who also is a township police officer, said the driver remains hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at St. Luke’s Hospital-Anderson in Bethlehem Township. The driver currently is unable to be interviewed by police but a preliminary investigation indicates the driver may have suffered a medical episode just prior to the accident, Alercia said.
Two other passengers in the car refused medical treatment at the scene. All four were in the car that crashed, Alercia said.
Skid marks shortly after the accident were shown leading off Park Avenue just south of Hackett Avenue in the area of the crash. An officer at the scene Thursday confirmed that’s where the car left the roadway, on Park Avenue as it rounded the parking lot near Boscov’s. The dented car was in a small alley off Park Avenue after the crash. Alercia then said the car struck an embankment and a pole.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
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