Just weeks before a New Jersey teen was set to graduate from high school, she was tragically killed in a car accident on the way to a graduation lunch with her parents Thursday afternoon. Lauren Hewski’s boyfriend was driving when they hit a utility pole, which caused the Jeep Cherokee to flip over, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office said. The 17-year-old teen boy sustained injuries. Hewski’s parents, worried sick when she never arrived at the restaurant, drove to the crash site after following her phone’s location and found caution tape and police. The soon-to-be graduate, who earned an associate’s degree from a community college as an 18-year-old, was headed to Syracuse University in the fall. Family friend Chris Locicero described Hewski to NBC New York as a “beautiful person, very caring young lady, intelligent.” “She had such a bright future ahead of her, to see this light just taken away from all of us all at once,” Locicero said. St. John Vianney High School postponed their prom, scheduled for the day after the tragedy, and held a mass for students Friday morning. Officials continue to investigate the cause of the crash.
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