An 18-year-old who died in a hit-and-run crash near the Palmer Park Mall had been removed from the mall minutes earlier, police said Friday.
The victim, 18-year-old Zakaiveh Halley of Phillipsburg, had an argument with a female friend just before the mall’s 9 p.m. closing time Wednesday and was escorted out by mall security, said Palmer Township police Detective Jim Alercia.
Halley was hit by a car on Route 248, just north of Park Avenue, as she crossed Route 248 at 9:12 p.m., police said. The car, described as a black sedan with rounded features, didn’t stop.
Police hours later impounded a car found in Phillipsburg, but Alercia said Friday that authorities have not linked it to the offending vehicle.
The investigation “is not turning out the way” investigators expected when they seized the vehicle, Alercia said.
Investigators attempted to recover DNA evidence from the steering wheel and the front bumper of the black Mazda 6, but some things about the damage on the car “didn’t line up,” Alercia said.
Fatal pedestrian accident at Palmer Park Mall
No one has been charged, although two men were removed in handcuffs from a home in the 200 block of Morris Street where the car was located after 2 a.m. Thursday.
The two men and the car had been at the mall and they had gathered with the two women outside the mall after the women were removed, Alercia said.
One of the men told authorities front-end damage on the car was caused by hitting a garbage can, according to a witness who was at the scene where police impounded the car.
Palmer police examined the vehicle after it was taken to Phillipsburg police headquarters, but police want to take the car to Palmer so a more thorough investigation can be performed, Alercia said.
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He said a piece of plastic from a vehicle’s undercarriage was found in the northbound lane of Route 248 between Park Avenue and the mall entrance. The debris had a serial number and police will try to trace it to the type of vehicle on which it belongs, Alercia said.
Police have a description of a black, dirty, “rounded” car leaving the scene north on Route 248. The accident was reported by someone in a southbound vehicle who stopped, police had said.
There is no external video at the mall — something new management has been working to correct, Alercia said.
Halley died of blunt force injuries, said Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek. But Lysek stopped short of ruling on her manner of death — accidental, homicide, suicide — pending completion of the investigation.
A serial number on a piece of a car helped lead to charges in a 2015 hit-and-run death in Bushkill Township in which the defense lawyer claims the victim may have been lying in the road before being fatally struck in the darkness of the very early morning.
Collin Jeffrey Cashau, of the 1500 block of Broad Road in Bushkiil Township, is charged in the Dec. 5, 2015, death of 35-year-old Kyle Smith along Belfast Road. The case is scheduled to go to trial June 5, court records say.
Alercia said he was discussing that case on Thursday night with the coroner.
“That’s how they solved that,” Alercia said.
The Palmer investigation is continuing and more information will be released when it becomes available, Alercia said.
If anyone has information about the fatal crash, they are asked to call Alercia at 610-253-5844, Ext. 1208.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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