Fatal Snapchat driver high on MDMA, as parents trolled
A YOUNG driver killed while playing "chicken" with oncoming traffic while being filmed on Snapchat was twice the legal alcohol limit and had traces of MDMA and cannabis in her system.
Shania McNeill was driving with two female friends in the car when she lost control and ploughed head-on into another vehicle seriously injuring its passenger Dennis Sales.
The 21-year-old's parents yesterday revealed to The Sunday Telegraph they had reached out to both injured men while also being attacked by online trolls blaming them for the fatal accident in April.
"You know I've been over it a million times what could we have done to change this," Lee McNeill told The Sunday Telegraph.
"She was due to move back from Sydney in a couple of weeks.
"Could we have gone down to Sydney and got her earlier?
"How am I to blame? What could I have done to change it?"
Mr McNeill said he had reached out to Mr Sales, who was in a coma having suffered a fractured neck, fractured lower spine, punctured diaphragm, broken ribs and damaged oesophagus, and is still undergoing treatment, and his passenger Ken Morrow, a musician show shattered his wrist in the crash.
"I feel sorry for them," Mr McNeill said.
"Having to replay those last few seconds over and over. Psychologically it would be very damaging."
Mr McNeill said his daughter's friends Faeda Hunter, 20, and Hazel Wildman 23 had supposedly told police they were trying to stop Ms McNeill playing chicken but the Snapchat video suggested otherwise.
"Playing games like that, not look through a red light and things like that I don't understand it," he said.
"It's so senseless."
Police said the case is an example of the reckless driving behaviours, including using a mobile phone, logging into social media behind the wheel and drink driving, that emerge in serious crashes on NSW roads.
In the past 12 months alone, 81 people under 25-years-old have died in car accidents.
"It is all about decision making and one bad decision can kill you," Traffic and Highway Patrol Assistant Commissioner Mick Corboy said.
"With this one it appears to be a number of bad decisions."
On the night of the crash, Ms McNeill, Ms Hunter and Ms Wildman went to Cram Bar in Richmond, a regular Saturday night haunt for the trio.
Licensee Craig Thomsen said police had taken a copy of the club's CCTV which showed Ms McNeill entered the venue about 10:50pm and left at 12:30am.
He explained the footage showed she only had three drinks and spent most of the time on the dancefloor.
"They were there for less than two hours and she left considerably early given we are open until 5am," he told The Sunday Telegraph,
"Nothing stood out to us. She danced the whole time she was there and then she left at 12:30am."
A Liquor and Gaming NSW spokesman confirmed the agency was not investigating Cram Bar for any licensing breaches.
Mr Thomsen said while the venue practised the responsible service of alcohol inside, it couldn't stop people behaving stupidly on the roads.
While the footage showed Ms McNeill left on her own, Ms Hunter and Ms Wildman left about half an hour later.
It is understood Ms McNeill's car was also captured on CCTV at a nearby service station minutes later.
About 15 minutes after the girls left the club, at 1:15am, Ms McNeill was killed.
"Here is a young girl on a road that a lot of people have driven before and here is a video of her dying," Mr Corboy said.
"One of the things that really hits home is not only a young lady who has died but a whole family that is grieving. And you can't forget the people who were in the other car.
"There are a lot of victims in this."
