Young driver in Snapchat video moments before fatal crash
THESE are the friends of a young female driver killed in a horror crash posing for a selfie in hospital a day after her broken body was pulled from the wreckage.
The selfie followed a haunting Snapchat clip broadcast from inside the car in which Shania McNeill, 21, died moments after veering into oncoming traffic.
The video was shot just before Ms McNeill crashed into a car travelling in the opposite direction, at Berkshire Park on Sunday morning killing her, injuring her friends and leaving two men in the other vehicle in a serious condition.
Police are investigating the Snapchat video in which a woman can be heard squealing before someone shouts, "Shania!". Shania then looks at the camera, open mouthed and her eyes wide.
She smiles briefly and makes a hand gesture before directing the person to point the camera back at the road in front of her. The footage then cuts out.
The clip, posted to Snapchat by passenger Faeda Hunter, has been shared with up to 50 people and was posted around the same time Ms McNeill's pink Suzuki Baleno and a Nissan Micra collided on Richmond Rd at 1.15am.
Ms McNeill was helped from the vehicle by members of the public. A passing police officer performed CPR but she died before paramedics arrived.
Her friends, Ms Hunter and Hazel Wildman, were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The two men, a driver, 61, and a passenger, 39, were also taken to hospital. One man was flown to Westmead Hospital in a serious but stable condition.
Yesterday morning, Ms Hunter and Ms Wildman were back on Snapchat posting a selfie together posing on their hospital beds in neck braces.
A driver who was travelling on Richmond Rd early Sunday morning said he had been swerved at twice by a car moments before the crash.
Mr Fuller, who asked for his first name not to be published, said he saw two cars driving towards him on the opposite side of the road with the second vehicle flashing its high beams at him.
"The first car closest to me moved over onto my side of the road. It was a violent swerve towards me … quite intentional. I moved out of the way and it seemed to take a second swipe at me."
Mr Fuller said he pulled over where another motorist had also stopped. The other motorist confirmed the same car had also driven them off the road.
"While we were talking we heard a bang." He said the bang was the cars colliding about one kilometre away.
Ms McNeill's flatmate Rachel Macefield said she had seen the video but did not believe it told the true story.
"This is my friend that I care deeply about and I know for a fact she would not have just let this happen. She's a good driver," she said. Joel Bentley, Ms McNeill's former boyfriend, said she was: "one of the most kind-hearted beautiful souls to ever live".
He said Ms McNeill, who used to work on a chicken farm, loved animals.
"Your love for chickens was unlike a love for anything I've ever seen with anyone," he said.
Police are continuing to seek witnesses to the crash and urged anyone who may have dashcam footage to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
