Oct 19, 2007 4:23 pm US/Eastern
Text Messaging Blamed In Charlton Teen's Death
by Ron Sanders
CHARLTON (WBZ) ―
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Amanda Martin may have been text messaging when she lost control of her car and drove into a tree.
WBZ
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The Bay Path senior was killed in the crash that happened on Flint Road as she drove to school.
WBZ
Text messaging is believed to be a factor in a crash that claimed the life of a teen girl in Charlton Wednesday morning.
The girl's family, now mourning her loss, sends a message to other teen drivers to take care while on the road.
A lone candle flickers in the rain where Amanda Martin's life was snuffed out on Flint Road when her car crashed into a tree.
"You'll see her picture and what a beautiful, beautiful kid she was," said Amanda's aunt, Linda Dickson.
Dickson said her niece was 10 times more beautiful on the inside, describing her as a bright light.
The 17-year-old was on her way to school at Bay Path Regional about 7:25 a.m. Wednesday when the crash happened.
Dickson said police told her Amanda received a text message at 7:22 a.m.
Dickson now has a message for Amanda's friends and all young drivers with cell phones behind the wheel.
"Don't use them to text message," she said. "We know she was going too fast and I beg you kids, slow it down."
Dickson said Amanda was an animal lover who might have been trying to avoid one in the road.
She said her sister Melissa, Amanda's mother, got the call while taking care of their father who has cancer.
Tragedy is no stranger to the family. Their mother was killed in a head-on collision with a teenage driver who fell asleep at the wheel in 2000.
The brother of Amanda's father, Derek, was killed in a car crash when he was 17.
Amanda also leaves behind her sister Lainey, a Bay Path freshman, a cat and two Labrador retrievers.
"And her family misses her so much," Dickson said. "We love you, Amanda."
Dickson said, "You don't know what's going to happen. You don't want this to happen to your family. You don't want this to happen to you."
Amanda is the third young Southbridge woman killed in as many car crashes this month in Charlton. The other two, both 22 years old, were Bethann Brooks and Julia Lavallee.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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