Passenger killed in crash where driver was going at least 100 mph on St. Bernard Parkway when the car went off the road, flipped and struck a house; 3 juveniles and driver injured; Probe continuing

Posted: July 15th, 2013 | Filed under: News Releases
St. Bernard Det. Sgt. Jeff Vega examines underneath the overturned Camaro that crashed into a home on St. Bernard Parkway Saturday night, killing a passenger and damaging the house. A tire from the car is in the foreground.

St. Bernard Det. Sgt. Jeff Vega examines underneath the overturned Camaro that crashed into a home on St. Bernard Parkway Saturday night, killing a passenger and damaging the house. A tire from the car is in the foreground.

Resident B.J. Hartman, right, and landlord Burton Cosse look at damage inside her residence after the incident. Hartman was home with her husband, C.J. , when the car struck the house. Neither were injured.

Resident B.J. Hartman, right, and landlord Burton Cosse look at damage inside her residence after the incident. Hartman was home with her husband, C.J. , when the car struck the house. Neither were injured.

A Violet man who was a passenger in a car being driven at least 100 mph Saturday night, July 13, was killed in a crash on St. Bernard Parkway near the Plaquemines Parish line when the car went off the road and flipped, glanced a tree and struck a house, State Police and Sheriff James Pohlmann said.

Victor Major, 46, of Violet, was partially ejected from the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and was dead at the scene of the accident which happened just after 10:30 p.m. on the two-lane St. Bernard Parkway, State Police from Troop B said. The vehicle was being driven north from Plaquemines Parish, authorities said. Major wasn’t restrained in the seat, authorities said.

Three juvenile girls ages 4, 10 and 11, who were buckled in rear seats, were hospitalized with injuries, as well as the driver, Samuel Hampton Jr., 38 of Violet, who was wearing a seat belt. All four were transported to the Interim LSU Hospital Level 1 Trauma Center with moderate injuries.

Preliminary investigation revealed the Camaro ran off the road to the right into a ditch, causing the vehicle to overturn and strike a residence, State Police said. Impairment is suspected as a factor of the crash and blood was taken from Hampton and will be submitted to the Louisiana State Police Crime Lab, authorities said. He could face a felony vehicular homicide charge in the death of Major.

Just before the crash, a Plaquemines Parish sheriff’s deputy had advised St. Bernard authorities by radio that a black Camaro being driven at more than 100 mph was headed toward St. Bernard, Sherff Pohlmann said.

The Camaro struck a house in the 700 block of St. Bernard Highway, just north of the Plaquemines Parish line. Resident B.J. Hartman and her husband, C.J. Hartman said they weren’t injured, but severely shaken by the incident.

B.J. Hartman said she was on a living room sofa when she heard “the most frightening sound’’ she ever heard as the vehicle approached and crashed into a side of her rented home. “It was worse than anything I have ever heard’’ she said on the scene. Their residence received major damage inside and to the exterior.

Numerous St. Bernard Parish sheriff’s deputies and firefighters responded to the accident.