THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 21, 1995 TAG: 9508210020
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: METRO BRIEFS
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
A 14-year-old girl was killed Sunday afternoon in a car accident on the Western Freeway that apparently stemmed from a dispute between the two drivers.
No charges had been filed as of Sunday evening, but police were investigating the case as a possible homicide.
If murder charges result, it would be the 23rd case in the city this year. In all of 1994, the city recorded 22 murders.
Police said Jennifer Erickson of the 4700 block of Helensburg Drive in Chesapeake was killed at 2:47 p.m. when the Jeep wagon in which she was riding was struck by a car and flipped.
The accident occurred on Route 164 west, just east of the Town Point underpass.
Details of what led up to the accident remained unclear Sunday, but police spokesman G.A. Brown said the accident was the end result of a ``domestic dispute'' involving a love triangle.
The man at the middle of the dispute - who apparently was not involved in the crash - is the husband of one of the women and the boyfriend of the other.
Brown said a 25-year-old woman was driving a 1994 Ford Escort and a 21-year-old woman was driving a 1994 Jeep.
Both vehicles were heading west when the Escort ``came into contact'' with the Jeep, causing the driver to lose control.
The Jeep was crushed as it rolled, coming to rest between a guardrail and the concrete wall of a bridge.
The driver of the Jeep was flown to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital by the Nightingale helicopter ambulance.
The driver of the other vehicle and two passengers, both juveniles, were unhurt.
The names of the drivers were not immediately released. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
Firefighters, above, peel the roof off a Jeep wagon in which a woman
was trapped and a 14-year-old girl died. Below, rescue workers take
the trapped woman to be airlifted to Sentara Norfolk General
Hospital. The crash, in which a car apparently hit the Jeep,
occurred on the Western Freeway.
KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC FATALITY MURDER JUVENILE by CNB