Woman filmed rallying down wrong side of freeway seconds before horrific double tragedy
Video footage showed the moment a woman in Pennsylvania sped the wrong way on a freeway before a group of motorcyclists were tragically struck. A 24-year-old woman from New Jersey was filmed speeding southbound on the I-476 northbound around 9am on Sunday moments before she struck two motorcyclists. Pennsylvania State Police reported to the scene of the crash at mile marker 67 in Washington Township. One of the cyclists, 50-year-old John Joseph Sweeney, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a press release. Sweeney was driving a Harley Davidson motorcycle at the time of the crash among the group of six motorcyclists. Tributes poured in for Sweeney on Facebook, as those who knew him created a GoFundMe to help his two sons, Colin and Tyler. 'John Sweeney was a devoted father, brother and son. An all around good guy,' said the fundraiser's organizer Dawn Kaufmann, who is Sweeney's soon-to-be mother-in-law. 'This tragedy took place because an irresponsible woman drove the wrong way on the turnpike causing not only the death of John but for his son Colin to witness it and be injured because of a careless driver.' A 24-year-old woman from New Jersey was videoed speeding southbound on the I-476 northbound around 9am on Sunday moments before she struck two motorcyclists 'This tragedy took place because an irresponsible woman drove the wrong way on the turnpike causing not only the death of John but for his son Colin to witness it and be injured because of a careless driver,' said the GoFundMe for one of the motorcyclists One of the cyclists, 50-year-old John Joseph Sweeney (pictured), was pronounced dead at the sceneA 24-year-old man, who had also been riding with the group, was injured and transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital Cedar Crest. According to the fundraiser, Sweeney was also soon to become a grandparent. 'I have no words just all numb. You will be missed so much. You had a heart of gold,' said a friend of Sweeney's. 'My thoughts and prayers and love go out to your family.' The woman, driving a Honda HRV, had sped past another driver, Jack Carroll, who's friend driving ahead attempted to warn him of the car driving the wrong way. 'We were on the phone talking and I was around mile marker 67.5 when he said, "That woman is driving the wrong direction. I got to go. I'm going to call the police",' Carroll told WFMZ. Carroll recalled how his friend rounded the bend, and he became faced with a set of headlights and began recording. 'And she blew by me. It's not like she was doing 30. She was doing 70,80, 90 miles per hour. I was doing 65,' Carroll said. Carroll told the outlet they heard someone had been killed hours later. Jack Carroll (pictured) managed to catch the driver speeding past him on video just moments before the crash. '...she blew by me. It's not like she was doing 30. She was doing 70,80, 90 miles per hour. I was doing 65,' he said'We learned about that when we ate lunch in the middle of our wheeling trip, that she actually did end up killing someone and it was really sobering because that very easily could've been either one of us,' he recalled. 'I was infuriated. She's potentially putting lives at risk and making it so a father, a mother, doesn't go home to their wife or husband or their daughter, you know their child and that's what happened. She took out a motorcyclist who had nothing to do with this,' Carroll continued. The driver sustained minor injuries, according to the press release. Pennsylvania State Police did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
