14 DAY TRIAL // A teenage model has been killed in a two-vehicle collision with a fire truck on Thursday, Friday 20.
According to a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department, 19-year-old Evelyn Courtney died when the Honda Accord she was in crashed into the fire engine at Poway Road and Midland Road.
“I'm sitting here at the intersection of Poway and midland roads looking at the flowers and the cards and reading all of the wonderful things people have to say about my daughter Evelyn,” father Wade Courtney writes on Facebook.
“Words fail me again for how I would like to say thank you to all of the friends, family, and coworkers of our family for all of the love and support we have received in the last 24 hours,” he posts.
Courtney was pronounced dead on the spot. The driver of the vehicle, a 44-year-old man from San Diego has survived the crash with minor injuries.
UPI informs that Robbie Gillespie was detained on Saturday and released from jail the next day after posting bail. Gillespie was a friend of the teenager's mother who was driving the girl home.
Police have found an open alcoholic beverage in the Honda, and they are investigating to find out if alcohol or drug consumption factored in when the cars collided.
“No one should ever have to go through the pain of burying their child,” Courtney adds.
UT San Diego reports that the victim had a career as a model, working with local photographer Nirav “Manny” Mankad.
“She was the sweetest thing. She had been modeling about two years, working with local San Diego photographers, building her portfolio.
“She was just doing it while she was young. I know she had plans to go to college, maybe medical school. She was a smart girl,” Mankad notes.