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.

They couldn't row. One of them couldn't even speak. Jack Alden tried to stand up in front of schoolmates at a chapel service Friday morning to talk about one of his best friends on the Episcopal Academy rowing team and couldn't get past the first few words. "I just burst into tears," Alden said of the memorial service for Paul Pratt, a junior on the Episcopal Academy team who was killed in a one-car accident Thursday night. Alden and senior Pat Bernhardt, his partner on the Episcopal Academy boys' lightweight double, made up their minds: They weren't going to compete at the Stotesbury Cup Regatta.

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.

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.

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.

The 79-year-old Montgomery County man who died Wednesday after being struck by a car in the city's Spring Garden section was identified by a relative Thursday as Wei Li of Blue Bell. In a brief interview at the family's home, Yongli Min, Li's son-in-law, said he had just returned from visiting his mother-in-law, Jufang He, 77, who was trying to cope with the loss of her husband. Li and his wife were on the sidewalk in front of the Highway Tabernacle in the 1800 block of Spring Garden Street when he was hit and pinned beneath a car about 4:30 p.m., police said.

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.

A 24-year-old motorcyclist was hospitalized in critical condition after a crash Friday night with a pickup truck driven by a West Chester man with a history of drunken-driving convictions, police said. Robert Elwood Landis, 49, was charged with driving under the influence, driving without a license, and related offenses after the accident, which occurred about 10:30 p.m. near Route 202 and Stanton Avenue, in Westtown Township. Police said Liam Crowley, of Chesterbrook, Tredyffrin Township, who was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, remained in critical condition Saturday.

A man has been cleared of all charges stemming from a 2008 New Jersey boat crash that killed one person and injured four. A Superior Court jury in Ocean County on Tuesday acquitted Anthony DiGilio of Brick of vehicular homicide and assault by vessel. Jurors started deliberations Monday afternoon. Prosecutors claimed that DiGilio's 27-foot speedboat ran over a 17-foot boat on the Metedeconk River, killing Robert Post, 49, of Essex Fells. DiGilio kept going and told officials later in the day that he thought he had hit a log. Testimony during the three-week-long trial often focused on whether DiGilio had turned on the light at the front of his boat.

A 31-year-old North Philadelphia man was killed after he lost control of his 2000 Pontiac near the crew grandstands on Kelly Drive and plunged into the Schuylkill, police said. Police said Devon Womack of the 2600 block of North 29th Street was parked with a passenger in a lot near the finish line for crew races. Trying to leave, he put the car into drive instead of reverse and accelerated into the river. A high school crew team helped rescue the 30-year-old passenger. Police said the accident occurred at 5:01 p.m. Firefighters and a police marine rescue squad retrieved Womack from the water at 6:09.