NJ mom was on phone with daughter when she was killed in crash

When Point Pleasant High School sweethearts Cole Young and Sadi Connors were killed in a crash on an Illinois highway, Connors' mom was on the phone with her daughter.

The couple was on their way back from a road trip with their dog, Maezy, when a tractor-trailer veered into oncoming traffic. Maezy was also killed in the crash.

Connor's mom said she heard her daughter scream, then the crash, then the phone went dead. The horrifying new details are included in a wrongful death lawsuit against the trucking company filed by the mothers of both victims, according to a report on NJ.com.

The driver of the truck did survive and has been charged in the accident.

A tractor-trailer headed west on I-70 veered onto the median and then into oncoming traffic, first hitting a trailer being towed by a Chevy pickup, before plowing into the minivan and sending both the tractor-trailer and the van into a ditch, according to troopers.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, 55-year-old Bill Lard, of California, was airlifted with serious injuries, while Young and Connors were pronounced dead at the scene.

The losses were felt deeply among the community of Point Pleasant Boro High School, where Connors played varsity basketball and Young played on the varsity baseball team before graduating in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

The mothers of both victims have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Illinois, alleging Lard and the trucking company he worked for, CRST Expedited, were negligent. Lard for the accident, and CRST for failing to property train lard and allow an unfit driver on the road.

An attorney for the families, Timothy J. Cavanagh, issued a statement after filing the suit, saying, "These families are suffering unbearable pain. Both the driver and his employer must be held accountable."

A GoFundMe effort started by friends of the popular couple has raised over $90,000 for a scholarship that will be created in Young and Connors' name.