A celebration turned to tragedy in New Jersey when a teenage girl died in a car accident just weeks before her high school graduation.
Lauren Hewski was supposed to be at her prom Friday night, along with her classmates at St. John Vianney in Holmdel. But he never made it. The 18-year-old died in a car accident Thursday afternoon while on her way to meet her parents for a graduation celebration.
“He had such a bright future ahead of him, to see this light just taken from all of us at once,” said family friend Chris Locicero.
Hewski was getting ready to start his new chapter in life, getting ready to go to Syracuse University in the fall. It all ended on Laird Road in Colts Neck.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said a Jeep Cherokee driven by a 17-year-old, identified as Lauren’s boyfriend, crashed into a utility pole and overturned shortly after 12 p.m. Hewski, in the passenger seat, was killed and her boyfriend was injured. .
It should have been a day of celebration for Hewski and his family. She had earned an associate’s degree from Brookdale Community College while still in high school and had attended a morning graduation ceremony with her parents cheering her on.
Friends said Hewski drove in her boyfriend’s car to a graduation luncheon with her parents. When the teenagers never arrived at the restaurant, her parents checked their daughter’s location and drove to the Laird Road location, which police had already sealed off with caution tape.
“A beautiful person, a very caring, intelligent young woman. If you knew Lauren, you would know what kind of person she was,” Locicero said. “His parents, amazing people, didn’t deserve this. No parent does. As you can imagine, we’re all heartbroken.”
The president of Brookdale Community College sent a statement saying, “Lauren was an incredibly intelligent and talented young woman who left an indelible positive impression on all of her teachers and classmates. Our hearts are broken by the loss of ‘this precious young life… – a life full of promise and possibility’.
The county attorney’s office said the cause of the crash is still under investigation. Secondary school St. John Vianney chose to postpone his prom, but held a mass for students Friday morning along with a moment of silence.
