Speeding teen driver ‘panicked’, say sources

Police remain silent on what triggered teen, who work as part-time model, to drive on the wrong side of the road and killing man in crash.

BUTTERWORTH: Investigators believe the teen driver of the Proton Gen 2 who was driving south on the north-bound side of the North-South Expressway, near Sungai Dua here yesterday morning, had panicked.

As a result of her actions, she crashed into a few oncoming vehicles, killing one man.

Sources told FMT, the 19-year-old woman had earlier rear ended two other cars before the Sungai Dua Toll Plaza (southbound), and decided to “escape” in a panic.

Witnesses told police the teen had then panicked and entered an opening meant for U-turns for emergency vehicles.

She then sped for 5km towards Seberang Jaya before ploughing into a Perodua Kelisa driven by a 26-year-old man, killing him instantly.

After crashing into the Kelisa, her car spun and crashed into five others, including a factory workers’ transport van and a motorcycle.

However, the above version of the following events could not be confirmed by police at the time of writing.

Police later found her urine sample tested positive for meth. Before testing her positive, police had said she was “likely drunk”.

The teen is expected to be arraigned this afternoon at the Butterworth Sessions Court.

She is said to be working as a part-time model for functions, launch events and car shows. She had entered a small beauty pageant in Juru previously.

Meanwhile, NST Online reported the family of the Kelisa driver, Mohamad Fandi Rosli, 26, was in shock upon hearing the news of the fatal accident.

Sungai Petani-born Fandi was driving back home after working the graveyard shift at a factory in Seberang Jaya, Prai at the time of the incident.

Fandi’s wife Norashikin Abdul Halim, a nurse at the Selayang Hospital had come to claim his body at the Seberang Jaya Hospital at 3pm.

She was distraught and fainted several times upon looking at his lifeless body at the morgue, NST reported.

“I was in a state of disbelief when I saw the video clip of the car travelling against the traffic flow on the expressway moments before it crashed into my son’s car.

“I leave it to the police to investigate the incident but we want justice for my son,” Fandi’s father Rosli Lin, 57, told NST when met at his burial.

Fandi was buried at the Kampung Pokok Assam Cemetery, Sungai Petani last night. He is survived by his wife, father, mother Noor Suraini Ismail, 47, and a younger sister. -FMT