COURTESY OF WESTLAKE POLICE

Westlake police are looking for the person who made a 911 call similar to the one pictured above.

WESTLAKE — Police are asking for the public’s help in locating witnesses to the April 12 accident on Interstate 90 that killed an Elyria teenager after she got out of a car and crossed Interstate 90.

Ashley M. Palos, 19, was struck by an eastbound car at 11:15 p.m. after getting out of a westbound car driven by her friend, an 18-year-old Vermilion woman, near the Avon-Westlake border, said Westlake police Capt. Guy Turner.

Someone in a white van with a utility body witnessed the crash and called 911, Turner said.

A passenger in the white van — who has a rather distinctive Southern accent — reported seeing the girl running across the highway, according to the tape. The man said, “We swerved and missed her, but the car in the inside lane hit her.”

Police could not trace the call from the man in the white van, possibly because it was from a prepaid call phone, Turner said.

Turner released 911 calls from two people — a man who reported seeing a woman in dark clothing who was “stumbling,” and the second from the man with the Southern accent.

Police already have talked to the first caller but would like to speak with the driver and passenger or passengers in the white van, Turner said.

Turner asked for the man in the van — or any listener who recognizes the caller’s voice — to contact police at (440) 871-3311.

Meanwhile, Turner said police have spoken again with Palos’ friend, who said Palos either lost her cell phone when she opened the car door or it fell out the window.

The two teens had been at a party attended by a number of young people, including Palos’s boyfriend, and several guests “caused her heartache,” Turner said. He declined to elaborate.

The highway is three lanes in each direction, and Palos had made it across five lanes when she was struck by a 2003 BMW driven by Larry Jackson, 37, of Maple Heights.

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

 

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