Accident

EYEWITNESS NEWS anchor Susan Barnett is leaving CBS 3 and the CW Philly. Barnett has been at CBS since 2006, anchoring the evening newscasts since 2008. She anchored the 5, 6 and 11 p.m. broadcasts on CBS, and the 10 p.m. broadcast at the CW Philly, along with co-anchor Chris May . Her contract expired in March. "I have decided to not renew my contract with the stations at this time. I am incredibly thankful for having been a part of the CBS Philly family, but I feel that this is the right decision at this time," Barnett said in a statement yesterday.

Sunday was supposed to be a special day for Bethany Reale of Mount Holly. Instead, her 13th birthday turned out to be the last day of her life. Bethany Reale was killed when the 1988 Chevrolet Celebrity driven by her mother, 39-year-old Gayla Reale, was struck by a second car at the corner of Creek Road and Hainesport-Mount Laurel Road, just north of Route 38, at about 4:45 p.m. Sunday. She died at Memorial Hospital of Burlington County in Mount Holly at about 5:55 p.m., said state police spokesman Al Della Fave.

The 13-year-old daughter of country singer George Strait was killed in a car accident late Wednesday, and the driver was charged yesterday with criminally negligent homicide. A Texas public-safety spokesman said Jennifer Strait was riding with two teenage male friends in a car driven by William Allen McDonald, 16, on a rural road outside San Marcos when the car failed to negotiate a curve, skidded sideways, rolled over and landed on its top in a ditch. The spokesman said that "excessive speed" contributed to the accident.

Rescue workers prepare to move the victim of a crash on the Vine Street Expressway yesterday. No one was killed in the accident.

Rescue workers assist one of two police officers injured in a six-vehicle accident yesterday in West Philadelphia. The driver of a 1987 Plymouth was headed east on Chestnut Street near 55th when he struck a 16th District van, police said. That impact caused the van to hit a parked vehicle; three more parked cars were also hit.

A firefighter hoses down the scene of an accident involving a Jeep Cherokee and a Toyota minivan on Lincoln Drive yesterday afternoon. Police said the Jeep, driven by William Hunter, of West Philadelphia, was going south on Lincoln Drive when it crossed into the northbound lane and was in collision with the minivan driven by Stuart Greenleaf, of Huntingdon Valley. Five fender-benders on Lincoln Drive and four on Kelly Drive were blamed on slippery roads. Injuries were relatively minor.

A Cherry Hill bicyclist was recovering from fractures to her face, a leg, and a vertebra yesterday after being struck in Medford by a driver who was texting about a drug deal, according to police. Lisa Granert, 42, was riding on Route 70, wearing a reflective vest and a helmet, shortly before 6:30 p.m. Monday when a car driven by Robert Sharrer, 28, of Browns Mills, hit her, police said. Sharrer told police that he had been texting when his 1994 Oldsmobile Cutlass wandered onto the shoulder, Lt. Jeffrey Wagner said.

Two drivers involved in an accident that left three people injured and 156 residents without electricity after a utility pole was struck in Wrightstown have been charged with drunken driving. Marie E. Costa, 21, of 2100 Atkinson Place, Holland, and Anthony Roscoe, 28, of Voorhees, N.J., were charged Wednesday with drunken driving, driving while under suspension and driving at an unsafe speed in the accident, which occurred Sept. 4 on Route 232 at Pine Lane. Police said Costa and Roscoe know each other.

Prosecutors yesterday dropped homicide charges against a 15-year-old girl in connection with a September accident in which a car she was driving struck and killed a man in Southwest Philadelphia. The girl admitted, during a hearing in juvenile court, to leaving the scene of an accident involving a fatality and to using a vehicle without authorization. She faces sentencing Nov. 22. The girl, Teneshia Lewis, was driving a gray 1986 Chrysler LeBaron with two other girls when the car hit Royal Turner, 65, in the 1400 block of South Hanson Street around 9:30 p.m. Sept.

A freak accident in the Grenloch area of Washington Township knocked out electric power to more than 5,200 customers yesterday, according to a spokeswoman for the Atlantic Electric Co. Washington Township police said a backhoe being transported on a flatbed trailer fell over on its side at 6:50 a.m. on Grenloch-Hurffville Road near County House Road, as the tractor-trailer was making a turn, and knocked down an electric transformer housed on...

ON THE FIRST episode of "The Haves and the Have Nots," Ty Lepley appears on the TV screen bare-chested and wearing a pair of pajama pants slung so low, they could give a gal whiplash. Jaw hanging, I asked myself, "Who is that guy?" Turns out he's a homeboy, a former Doylestown resident who moved out to Los Angeles just two years ago. He didn't go out there with the intention of becoming an actor. The 26-year-old Kutztown University grad was just looking for a change. Somewhere between hanging out at a gym in Santa Monica and last month's "Haves" premiere on the Oprah Winfrey Network, some smart soul spotted Lepley flexing those biceps of his and said he oughta be in pictures.

A 10-year-old boy was killed and another injured when two vehicles involved in an accident swerved onto a sidewalk Monday afternoon in Chester, police said. About 4 p.m., a red Ford F-350 and a dark burgundy Chevrolet Monte Carlo collided in the intersection of Ninth Street and Highland Avenue. Both vehicles veered onto the Highland Avenue sidewalk behind a corner pizza shop, said Kent Drake, owner of Just Pizza. The truck rolled over the 10-year-old, who leaped to his feet and tried to run before collapsing nearby, said Drake, who was outside and witnessed the mayhem.

By Robert L. Bradley Jr. Several of the country's most powerful environmental groups have latched onto the recent 10,000-barrel Arkansas oil spill to fight against a federal permit for Keystone XL, a proposed transnational pipeline project. New subway ads in Washington from SumOfUs.org claim that this spill is just a "preview" of what will come by connecting Canadian oil deposits with refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. This now-standard tactic among green groups - opposing new energy projects by highlighting dissimilar accidents - is obstructionist thinking.

A four-vehicle accident on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge shut down all westbound traffic shortly after 5 p.m. today. No major injuries have been reported in the accident, although one car was overturned and leaking fuel, said Tim Ireland, spokesman for the Delaware River Port Authority. Eastbound traffic was unaffected, Ireland said, service continued on the PATCO train service. Westbound traffic remained stalled just before 6 p.m.   Contact Jonathan Lai at 856-779-3220, jlai@phillynews.com , or on Twitter @elaijuh.

A 13-year-old died Saturday morning when he was thrown from his all-terrain vehicle, police said, after losing control of it as he drove on a street in Southwest Philadelphia. The boy, whose identity was not released Saturday, was driving a 2002 Yamaha four-wheel ATV eastbound on the 5900 block of Elmwood Avenue. He was seen weaving in and out of traffic, police said. Around 9:30 a.m., a preliminary police report said, the boy "lost control of his ATV, was ejected, and struck a pole and a tree.

A 42-year-old Camden man was killed Friday morning when a concrete partition at a city recycling center fell on him. It was the second fatal accident at the facility this year. Keith Rainer was pronounced dead at Cooper University Hospital shortly before 8:30 a.m., officials said. The accident happened around 8 at ReCommunity Camden in the industrial complex on the 2200 block of Mount Ephraim Avenue, Camden County Police spokesman Michael Daniels said. He said a front-end loader knocked over a concrete barrier, which fell on Rainer.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday that an 11-year-old boy who got hold of a loaded gun last week accidentally shot his 12-year-old schoolmate in Camden. Neither boy knew the weapon was loaded when the shooting occurred around 8 a.m. Friday in Crestbury Apartments, where the 12-year-old lived, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office and Camden County Police said. The 11-year-old fired one shot, police said. At the time, the shooting was believed to be an accident. Investigators confirmed that it was not intentional after interviewing both children.

The pain wall, veteran rowers call it. It hits every race if you're doing it right. It all looks pretty from the shore when an eight-oared shell gets in sync, but those rowers out there at the Dad Vail Regatta on Friday and Saturday are building lactic acid by the stroke, and eventually they lose the ability to clear it. They're at the pain wall, no way around it. "After that, you're just hanging on for dear life," said Temple men's coach Gavin...

A TRACTOR-TRAILER accident on Interstate 95 in South Philadelphia yesterday morning caused delays for hours just as motorists were trying to navigate to and from the Broad Street Run. Officials said the accident happened in the northbound lanes just before 6 a.m., when a tractor-trailer collided with another vehicle and then struck the median, causing the semi to burst into flames. Traffic was shut down in both directions between the Walt Whitman Bridge and Broad Street for nearly two hours.

UPDATE: The victim was identified Thursday as Li Wi, of Blue Bell A 79-year-old Montgomery County man was killed and his 77-year-old wife was injured by a car that jumped a curb Wednesday afternoon in Spring Garden, police said. The Nissan veered onto the sidewalk at 18th and Spring Garden Streets after being struck by a Toyota in the intersection shortly after 4:30 p.m., said Chief Inspector Scott Small. The man was pinned under the car in front of the Highway Tabernacle Church until he was rescued by medics and transported to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m. His wife was reported in stable condition at Hahnemann.