The car appeared in a flash.
Lindsay Weakland, 18, and her boyfriend, Alper Balkan, 20, were crossing the street in Wildwood around 9:30 p.m. Saturday night with a group friends after attending the Fall Classic Car Show, Balkan said.
Weakland was right behind Balkan when a car “flying down the street” struck her, he said. He didn’t hear the driver hit the brakes — the engine kept revving, he recalled.
Balkan held his girlfriend, a new high school graduate, as she lay injured on the ground awaiting help.
“I was talking to her and she could hear me,” Balkan said in an interview, fighting tears. An ambulance and police vehicles arrived an agonizing five minutes later.
Balkan said he was quickly escorted into a police car and taken to a station, where he spoke to officers about the incident for more than an hour. Afterward, he learned Weakland had died.
Gerald J. White, 37, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident that caused death and serious bodily injuries, two counts of assault by auto, two counts of death by auto and fleeing the scene of a crash, charging documents show.
In addition to hitting Weakland as she crossed the street, White is accused of hitting a nearby car in a crash that killed Timothy Ogden, 34, of Clayton in Gloucester County.
White appeared virtually before a judge Monday afternoon for a short first appearance in court. A public defender had not been assigned to him yet.
White was attending the “pop up” gathering H2oi, also known as H20i, that was largely organized on social media. The car event, which was not approved by Wildwood officials, had previously drawn thousands of people to Ocean City, Maryland.
Weakland and her boyfriend were attending the Fall Classic Car Show, a separate car event authorized by Wildwood officials and not associated with the unofficial H2oi car meetup. It was Weakland’s second time attending the Fall Classic Car Show, her boyfriend said.
Weakland, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduated in June from Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, school officials confirmed.
“She was amazing. We never fought at all,” said Balkan. “She was so sweet to everybody.”
The couple started dating in April 2021 after meeting at a car event in Balkan’s hometown in Pennsylvania. They started talking and “instantly clicked, instantly had love for each other,” he said.
Weakland’s family declined to comment about her death.
Meghan Sterner graduated from the same high school a year before Weakland and knew her since middle school. Sterner described her as “the sweetest person I knew in that school.”
Sterner recalled when she was experiencing a panic attack at school and Weakland sat with her for almost an hour in the girl’s bathroom.
“It meant so much that she would actually come and take time out of her day to sit there and help me,” Sterner said.
Friends posted condolences and memories of Weakland on social media, describing her as funny, kind and loving.
“We are keeping her family and friends in our thoughts during this difficult time, and we have supports in place through our counseling department for our students and staff,” said Tracy Panzer, a district spokeswoman.
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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.
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