A Huntingdon Valley teen was charged with DUI and homicide in a crash that killed one and injured three
A night of underage drinking led to a fatal car crash in January for which Alexander Koenigsberg has been charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence.
A Huntingdon Valley teenager has been charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence and related crimes for allegedly driving drunk and crashing his car off a Cheltenham road in January, killing one passenger and critically injuring three others.
Alexander Koenigsberg, 18, crashed his 2006 Honda Civic into two telephone poles in the 1000 block of Greenwood Avenue at 1:34 a.m. on Jan. 23, suffering spinal injuries and a broken clavicle, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said.
The five people in Koenigsberg’s car, all between the ages of 17 and 20, had been at a birthday party at a bowling alley before the crash, and investigators found evidence that they had been drinking in the car, Steele said.
A friend of Koenigsberg’s told detectives he had tried to take the keys to the teen’s vehicle to stop him from driving that night, but was unsuccessful.
“This young man turned his car into a lethal weapon and caused the crash that killed one passenger and injured three teenaged passengers so badly that they will [be] dealing with their injuries for a very long time,” Steele said. “Many families were forever altered by this defendant’s actions, and my heart goes out to all of them.”
Nicholas Bednarek, 20, of Abington, who authorities said was on the passenger side of the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt, died of his injuries. A 17-year-old girl who was sitting in the middle of the back seat and was not wearing a seatbelt, was sent head-first through the front windshield and suffered a brain bleed, broken vertebrae, and broken pelvis. A female passenger, seated behind the driver and wearing a seat belt, suffered a spinal injury, fractured ribs, and internal injuries. And a male passenger in the front seat, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered a skull fracture, multiple broken vertebrae, and extensive internal injuries.
At the time of the crash, investigators said, Koenigsberg was intoxicated and drove in a reckless manner, causing Bednarek’s death and injuries to his passengers, prosecutors said.