BEAR, DELAWARE (11/29/2015) A 20-year-old woman died and five other people were taken to a hospital this morning in a crash involving two SUVs on Route 1, Delaware State Police said.
The accident happened about 10:15 a.m. in the southbound lanes south of Red Lion Road (Route 71), in the Tybouts Corner area.
The woman killed was identified as Thalya Crawford, of Brooklyn, New York. She was identified as a Delaware State University student, and friends planned a candlelight vigil Monday night on the campus.
Crawford was a rear-seat passenger in a 2003 Ford Explorer that police said was passing a 2006 GMC Yukon that was traveling in the right lane.
The driver of the Explorer, Kai Clarke, 20, of Brooklyn, lost control of the vehicle, police said, with its right side colliding with the left side of the Ford. Both SUVs then struck the guard rail and went down an embankment.
The Explorer rolled onto the side, and the Yukon overturned onto its roof.
Police said Clarke was wearing a seat belt but the three passengers in the Explorer were not.
Crawford was pronounced dead at the scene.
Clarke and the two other passengers, Armani Wynter, 20, of Dover, and Gerell Wilson, 20, of Newark, were taken by ambulance to Christiana Hospital in Stanton with injuries police said were not life-threatening.
The Yukon’s driver, Brett Yarnall, 31, of Smyrna, was taken by ambulance to Christiana Hospital, treated and released. Police said her 9-month-old daughter was taken to the hospital for observation and released. Both were properly restrained in the vehicle, police said.
The crash remains under investigation and charges are pending, police said.
Southbound Route 1 was restricted to a single lane for about 3 hours as troopers investigated and the wreckage was cleared.
21-year-old DSU student dies in SUV crash
